Yesterday French Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Michael Barnier was in Hungary to kick off “French Week,” some kind of culinary promotion tied in with the larger campaign called “French Year” that Hungary is apparently hosting in 2007. As you might expect, Barnier launched “French Week” at a local outlet of French-owned hypermarket chain Cora. But how’s this for irony: On the very day that Barnier and his Hungarian counterpart József Gráf were singing the praises of French-Hungarian cooperation in the areas of food, the Hungarian competition authority (GVH) announced it was slapping Cora with a Ft 15 million (roughly €60,000) fine for deceptive advertising.
According to business daily Világgazdaság, Cora and rivals Metro and Auchan (the first German-owned, and the second French like Cora) were guilty of placing ads that falsely suggested certain products were available in all stores when they were not, and advertised “reduced” prices that were actually higher than the normal prices.
No word on whether the GVH is now investigating if “French Week” is “French” enough, or what the import-hating Gráf will do if he decides it’s too French. In the meantime, we’re going to play it safe and just stick to Hungarian.
