Aldi hijacks Real Bread Week

Aldi, the UK’s 5^th largest supermarket chain, has co-opted the Real Bread Campaign’s Real Bread Week to advertise products including precooked, ultra-processed chicken breast slices.*

The Real Bread Campaign created and runs Real Bread Week to encourage people to make Real Bread, buy Real Bread from local independent bakeries, and to support the charity’s work. 

Real Bread Campaign coordinator Chris Young said:

‘Whoever at Aldi was responsible for researching and authorising the use of Real Bread Week in the company's Special Buys marketing leaflet should have made it their business to know this.’

Instead, that massive, multinational supermarket chain hijacked our small charity’s initiative to advertise all sorts of stuff, including a UPF factory farmed poultry product.’

Special?

Only two of the ten products (flour and salt) that Aldi used Real Bread Week to advertise are necessary for bread making. Though the spread mentioned recipes, rather than including any of them, the leaflet re-directed people elsewhere to find them. This created a barrier to access that contrasts with the immediacy of the product advertising. One of those recipes (‘fluffy flatbreads’) wasn’t even Real Bread as it called for using a chemical raising agent.

Despite all of this, the Campaign welcomed Aldi making some attempt at encouraging people to make their own Real Bread (in three out for four recipes, at least) rather than advertising any of the company’s ‘bread’ range, much of which falls well short of the simple, additive-free definition of Real Bread.

Young noted:

‘The fact remains, however, that Aldi sought to profit from the marketing value of Real Bread Week, built up by a small charity over 15 years, without our permission or even mentioning us.’

On 19 February 2024, the Real Bread Campaign attempted to contact Aldi via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Having not received a response from the company, the Campaign followed this up on 21 February.

* Ashfields roast chicken breast slices ingredients: Chicken breast, pea starch, salt, dextrose, stabiliser: triphosphates; spirit vinegar, rosemary extract, colour: plain caramel.

Updates

27 February 2024: The Campaign emailed Aldi’s CEO an marketing director, asking for a response.