Challenge

How can we make healthy food more affordable and therefore accessible to everyone in the Netherlands?

Idea

Dirk offers the lowest prices on fruit and vegetables in the Netherlands. However, there is a limit to what a supermarket can do on its own. To make fruit and vegetables even more affordable for everyone, we called on the government to take responsibility.

Dirk launched a petition to reduce VAT on fruit and vegetables. A few years ago, the Dutch government increased VAT on these products, making them more expensive for consumers. Under the campaign theme “The time is ripe”, we encouraged as many people as possible to sign the petition and invited other supermarkets to join the initiative. In the end, the petition was presented in The Hague on behalf of more than 52,000 people.

Result

The call to sign the petition was widely supported. The campaign also received a large number of likes and shares on social media, which led to significant attention in talk shows and news programmes. With a very modest media budget, the campaign generated €2 million in earned media value. Most importantly, the new coalition agreement now includes the intention to completely abolish VAT on fruit and vegetables.