Description

Advertising of local products includes all sales promotion measures controlled or initiated by the public sector that are intended to encourage market participants to buy/ consume certain regional products and hence increase sales opportunities and revenues of domestic businesses. Advertisement may increase awareness of certain foods as well as the preservation of genetic resources and increase the consumers’ confidence in regional production. It may also restore consumer confidence after severe market disruptions.

Measures not only comprise conventional financial assistance for promoting the sale and purchase of regional products but also include the provision of simple, qualified information on geographical provenance, generic names, designations of origin, geographical information, and quality marks issued by state bodies to promote sales

Consumers rate the same products with different international provenance differently. Businesses find it easier to sell regional products in places where consumers have emotional ties to the region.

Requirements

• Compatible regional and world trade law (WTO conformity)
• Clear and coherent political strategy and targets for policy-makers and public authorities
• Close cooperation and knowledge sharing with farmers' organisations
• Clear responsibilities in public authorities
• Clearly recognisable product characteristics
• Respect for cultural landscape and traditions
• Country-wide register of farms and / or enterprises involved in the agri-food sector
• Clear definition of the products being promoted (e.g. the degree of regional value), e.g. in the form of a statutory definition of the term ‘regional provenance’

Possible Negative Effects

• Distortion of competition by favouring certain products
• Promotion of products that have obvious deficits compared with others and that are inferior to international products
• Abuse arising from imported products being sold as domestic products
• Regional provenance undermined by products being bought in from elsewhere