At the beginning of the year, the larger French retailers fulfilled one of their dreams when they were granted permission to advertise on TV.

Until this watershed, they were only allowed to promote themselves through newspapers - which incidentally was a big financial help for the French printed press - and on radio.

But since January 1, our TV screens have been filled with new, punchy images, sparkling colours and aggressive marketing messages. Which is fine. Greengrocers and wholesalers were more or less prepared for this. They had already suffered an Intermarché ad picturing high-price fruits hiding from the cutting rapier of the supermarket, á la The Three Musketeers.

The communication plan developed by Rungis market is the response from the traditional side of the business. So they were covered. But what could not have been predicted is that the non-food retail sector has gone on the attack on the advertising front.

It sounds like an unlikely scenario, but it is being played out before our eyes. An ad from one chain of opticians paints a sad picture of people demonstrating in the street and violently protesting “Too expensive!” as they pass by different retail shops (greengrocers, small restaurants etc...). They eventually fall silent when they reach said optician’s outlet. It may not be a sophisticated message, but needless to say it works for the French viewer.

Not surprisingly, greengrocers and wholesalers immediately fired off infuriated letters to the optician chain’s management. The Rungis authority Semmaris led the way and was quickly backed by French small retailer unions. The wording was unanimously tough: “humiliating” and “iniquitous”, claimed the letters.

Beyond this peculiar event, there is a consistent trend in the fresh produce industry to protest vociferously against situations seen as unfair: brawls between producers and wholesalers about sales prices, clashes between producers and retailers on margins, the industry’s denunciation in the media for so-called high levels of pesticides in produce sold in France - many are the reasons for all hell to break loose.

To my mind, it is important to fight these things. Consumers tend to take too many things about fresh produce for granted. But such actions can only have an effect if the industry simultaneously and positively promotes its expertise, know-how and even prices, which are not as high as too many people like to think.