Farmers’ Markets and Business Groups Clash with Loblaws Over Controversial Ad

Recent ads from Loblaw Co. encouraging shoppers to skip the line at their local farmers’ markets and visit its budget subsidiary NoFrills instead have sparked outrage among groups that already struggle to sell their products, according to organizations in two provinces.

Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia Cooperative and the Ontario Small Business Community reported that their members were alerted to a text featuring NoFrills’ latest flyer with the disparaging message earlier this month.

Victoria Tinkler, community manager for the Ontario small business group, initially thought it was a prank when local farmers sent her screenshots of the text message on July 20.

“There are a lot of people who are really unhappy with Loblaw’s business practices, feeling as though their wallets and stomachs are being held hostage,” she said in a phone interview.

Since verifying that the text message did indeed come from the grocery giant, the province’s farmers have been “exceptionally vocal” about their dissatisfaction with the message.

“Farmers’ markets are their home base. It’s where they can do business directly with consumers without a middleman and provide for their immediate communities,” she said.

Tinkler noted that many farmers found the message especially confusing given what she called the “symbiotic relationship” between food producers and the stores that feed Canadians.

In separate social media posts, both groups accused Loblaw of attacking small business owners, many of whom cannot stay open year-round and face numerous barriers when trying to get their goods on grocery store shelves.

“Farmers’ markets do not operate year-round and are home to Canada’s local and independent farm businesses and farms…where they can do business directly with consumers without a middleman. They offer better value, fresher products, and community connections,” an Instagram post by the Ontario Small Business Group reads.

The text message came just two months after thousands of Canadians participated in a Loblaw boycott in response to the company’s soaring profits amid the rising cost of living many Canadians are facing.

Tinkler stated that the latest marketing campaign is yet another instance of Loblaw breaking trust with consumers.

“They are not a trusted company that people feel like they can be a consumer of and that they’re not being taken advantage of. A message like this is just another song in the chorus of ‘Loblaw’s, why did you do this?’” Tinkler said.

She also mentioned that Loblaw had informed the Ontario group that the ad was only distributed within the province.