There are few Valencian symbols as clear to Valencians as the orange, a reference on the table and in the markets. And this is why quite a bit of controversy has been unleashed in the Valencian Community following an advertising campaign by the NGO Food Justice in which an image of a rotten orange is shown under the message "Markets are dying."
The Minister of Innovation, Industry, Commerce and Tourism and the General Director of Commerce, Crafts and Consumer Affairs have sent a letter to the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Social Rights demanding that they withdraw their support for the campaign launched by this association.
"It is absolutely inadmissible that the Government of Spain allows this campaign of discredit and unjustifiable aggression towards our municipal markets and our products," says Councilor Montes. Both representatives explain that "for the Valencian Community the orange is a hallmark, comparable to many symbols of utmost importance for Valencians, such as the banana for the Canary Islands or the seafood for Galicia." And that is why they criticize "that the treatment of that image is a manipulation that discredits the orange and, with it, the orange." offer of our markets".
The Chambers of Commerce of the Valencian Community have joined the controversy and, in a statement, point out that the orange has been the image of Spain on such important occasions as the 1982 World Cup. "The orange is one of the products Spaniards with greater international recognition and this campaign seriously damages their image," they maintain.
Meanwhile, the NGO has responded to the controversy on social networks by showing the same campaign with three different images: an orange, a pear and a lemon. They speak of attempted manipulation and censorship and assure that "political and media pressure seeks to silence a necessary social debate, changing the axis of the story to silence the messenger."
The organization accompanies the image of the campaign with the access link to the document that is the subject of the study, a report subtitled "Decline and plunder of municipal markets" in which they focus on the example of the city of Barcelona.
In their conclusions they maintain that "offering fresh, local food at an affordable price seems to be key to ensuring the right to healthy eating, especially in popular neighborhoods, and the current supermarket (totally private) compromises this objective" at the same time that They defend the public management of markets to guarantee affordable prices and quality food.
