It’s been weeks since Loblaws pulled French’s ketchup from its shelves and then backtracked after taking a social media battering.
However, Canadians continue to post selfies on social media proudly holding the ketchups that say “support Canadian farmers.”
Leave it to social media to wrap a Canadian flag around an American company and turn French’s into Canada’s ketchup.
Tomato producers in Leamington, Ont., do rely on the Highbury Canco facility that French’s contracts to produce its ketchup.
However, Loblaws is a Canadian company and its house brand, President’s Choice, has an excellent track record of supporting Canadian farmers. Most of the ingredients in President Choice products, including ketchup, are sourced in Canada, Sylvain Charlebois, professor of food distribution and policy at the University of Guelph, said in a recent CBC interview.
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The social media tide may have gone Loblaws’ way if it had been stronger out of the gate and described its Canadian roots.
Loblaws said it pulled French’s ketchup because it wasn’t selling, which brings up an interesting aspect of this affair.
Trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement allows companies to buy ingredients and process their products wherever they want within the trade zone.
However, consumers are able to use their individual purchasing decisions to support any company they want.
Calls to buy locally produced goods to support local economies has largely fallen on deaf ears, ever since cheaper foreign goods landed on local shelves.
However, the buy-local movement has a powerful new tool in social media, which provides the mechanism to prop up local companies by co-ordinating the purchasing power of its users.
Social media can make large companies tread lightly, but it remains to be seen how much social media will actually help local companies compete with large foreign and international companies.
In the meantime, it will be interesting to see if “Canada’s ketchup” increases its market share in Canada.
