The Co-op Group's advert combines individuality with public perception, says Joanna Blythman


As a regular cinema-goer, I can testify to just how seamlessly The Co-operative Group’s ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ commercial fits in with other slick adverts on the big screen.

If Messrs Tesco and Asda ran cinema ads in the same vein as their TV ones, they would come over as depressingly pedestrian. All that “my loaf’s cheaper than your loaf” stuff would look distinctly lowbrow next to ads such as Peroni’s La Dolce Vita extravaganza. And if these same chains tried to claim the ethical highground, as The Co-op Group does, you can just imagine people choking on their popcorn. Tesco/Asda – good for everyone? You must be joking! 

Waitrose, and possibly Sainsbury's, might get a hearing with an ethical pitch, but they would also provoke that familiar “all very well if you can afford it” reaction. It doesn’t take much to make British people think ethical food is an obsession of the neurotic rich. 

The Co-op Group, on the other hand, can get away with this audacious campaign. It might even build more sales on the back of it because (a) there’s an historical reservoir of trust toward the chain among a cross-section of people (b) people are more inclined to believe that the The Co-op Group does genuinely behave in a more ethical way than its competitors and (c) The Co-op is seen as an economical place to shop.

This isn’t all The Co-op Group has going for it. Its stores tend to be relatively small, on high street locations, with a higher than average footfall from hand basket customers. It can co-exist with the family butcher, greengrocer, whole food shop, fishmonger et al, rather than closing them down. It sells just enough in the way of useful ‘foodie’ lines – things like ricotta cheese, Puy lentils and gold top milk – to keep sophisticated consumers happy, but not enough to render independent specialist shops redundant or to scare off the pensioners looking for Battenburg cake.

The Co-op Group’s familiar, once rather dowdy image is being spruced up with bold additions to its range that hearten the ethical lobby and please cooks. A case in point is its varietal Nabali and Rumi fairtrade, organic Palestinian extra virgin olive oils, sourced by Equal Exchange. 

The Co-op Group ‘firsts’ such as this underscore the message of its adverts: here is a chain that marches to its own tune, rather than following the pack. Now that’s an attractive proposition.


Joanna Blythman is a food journalist and author of Bad Food Britain.