Lidl scraps ad campaigns around Qatar World Cup

Lidl decided to scrap all ad campaigns around the World Cup in Qatar at the end of this year. The other large Dutch supermarket chains are still considering how to balance the human rights situation in the Gulf country against the increased spending around major football events, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

"Given the situation in the world, we did not think it appropriate to conduct a large-scale campaign now," a spokesperson for Lidl said to FD. "As a supermarket, we have a social role. This also means that we allow ourselves to be influenced by what is happening in the world."

Netherlands residents tend to spend a lot around big football events. According to an ING estimate ahead of the Euro 2020 tournament in June 2021, Netherlands residents spend about 10 million euros extra on beer, chips, and other snacks per Oranje match. Supermarkets, therefore, traditionally invest a lot in advertising campaigns around football tournaments - between 6 million and 19.5 million euros in the previous sports summer, according to FD.

The other large supermarket chains in the Netherlands are still dithering about what to do. Albert Heijn is "looking at how we can celebrate the World Cup here in the Netherlands and show we support football in the Netherlands." Albert Heijn is one of the Dutch national team's sponsors but will not travel to Qatar. Jumbo and Plus told FD they are still considering which expressions they'll use around the football tournament.

Oranje's main sponsor, ING, also announced that it would not go to Qatar for the World Cup. "The human rights situation is the reason why were are not doing anything at this tournament," an ING spokesperson said last month.