It probably hasn’t escaped your notice that Channel 4 are running a series of programmes on fish, more specifically fish stocks.  It is an admirable campaign which I passionately agree with, but what’s struck me is how quickly it has had an affect.

There have been a number of high-profile campaigns by celebrity chefs (interestingly mainly those exclusively contracted to Channel 4 such as Hue and Jamie).  The first of Channel  4’s Great British Food Fight series on intensive chicken farming appears to have had had some affect on consumers affecting sales at the time and some immediate effect in industry with for example Hellman’s pledging to use only free-range hen eggs in their mayonnaise, but it is hard to know if these resulted in a long-term change of consumer habits.  Arguably Jamie Oliver’s campaign on school dinners enjoyed more success, capturing the public’s imagination and turning the subject into a hot political issue.

But what has surprised me this time is the speed of reaction.  After Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s programmes on intensive and wasteful fishing techniques and trying to encourage consumers to eat a wider variety of fish (stepping away from just cod and salmon), I saw the below sign in the entrance of my local Tesco – clearly they feel the need to be defensive.  Granted, Hugh does seem to have singled-out Tesco in particular so I can see that they would be a little defensive, but I was still surprised to see this so quickly and so prominent.

So I think the game has changed.  Before, a celebrity chef’s campaign would have some influence on consumer behaviour which in turn through demand would affect the supermarkets.  Now though it seems that these campaigns are directly influencing the supermarkets.  Maybe the time has come where celebrity chefs have more power over the supermarkets than our politicians.