Halal-Certified Food Ads Are Increasingly Common on French Television

Since before Ramadan, halal-certified food advertisements have become increasingly common on French television. It is said that during Ramadan Muslims stop eating during the day and eat more after breaking the fast in the evening, entertaining one another and paying attention to the quality and refinement of their food; wherever there are Muslims, the purchasing power for halal food clearly rises.

Abbas Bendara, manager of the Paris company Solis, told a reporter from The Times on Wednesday (September 2): 'Ramadan is the peak business season of the year for our halal food specialty company. No one wants to miss this opportunity, so competition is also fierce.' As far as he knows, the Lyon-based manufacturer Zakia Halal Food Company spent as much as US$430,000 this year on advertising on France's largest national television network. Their advertisements take a simple form; the typical design is: a Muslim couple, sometimes with their children, strolling through a supermarket, taking the most fashionable French halal delicacies off the shelves, the whole family happy together. The halal delicacies and microwave fast food most commonly seen in the ads include French lasagna, Italian ravioli, Spanish paella, Burgundy braised beef, and shepherd's pie, all bearing a unified Halal mark.

The halal food advertising battle officially kicked off one week before Ramadan. Starting on August 17, the advertisements of many halal food companies appeared at the same time, each launching newly designed Ramadan food products. Bendara said: 'Zakia has read the market trend correctly. Most of their products are fast foods, introducing modern high-tech food production turned into new halal products, adapting to the fast pace of modern life. Most Muslims are busy with work, and women have no time to go into the kitchen.'

According to the latest survey statistics from the French polling institute IFOP, there are at least seven million Muslims in France, and 70% of them observe the fast during Ramadan. Apart from those who can be exempted from fasting under Islamic principles, such as the sick, travelers, or children, almost all Muslims observe the fast. This is an astonishing new discovery, because in today's world no other religion has such a high proportion of devout believers.

Bendara said that from the prevalence and frequency of advertising, one can see the scale and output of the halal industry, as well as the dietary tastes of French Muslims. Most halal food ads occupy prime-time television slots, indicating high advertising costs and huge product revenues. Most French Muslims have blended European tastes, turning traditional European foods into 'halal,' which shows that halal dietary principles are flexible and adaptable to the customs of any people in the world.

According to estimates from Solis's market research, Muslims' food consumption during Ramadan each year is around US$570 million, which counts as a very high standard of living even in Western countries. The vast majority of Muslims in France are descendants of North African peoples. After settling in France, they raised children and reached the second and third generations; their living habits changed dramatically and they generally began French-style living habits, but they still maintain their Islamic faith. Under the legal principles of halal food, halal eating has very strict rules, giving no ground at all on strictly forbidden ingredients, with no room for negotiation—for example, no food processing is permitted to use cooking wine.

Large-scale production of halal food began ten years ago. Industrially produced food entering supermarkets is only a new thing of recent years, but the rapid growth rate has driven fierce competition among manufacturers, with new products changing daily and sales growing at a high rate of 15% per year. In France there are many traditional halal food companies that increase output year after year, continuously expanding their production scale and forming halal 'brand-name products.' But many large national supermarket chains are not to be outdone either; they claim their turf and have added dedicated counters for their own halal products in supermarkets, competing with good quality at low prices.

Bendara said: 'In media coverage, negative news about Muslims is reported every day, but in halal food advertising, the lineup of Muslims is shown to be continuously expanding.' The prosperity of the market represents the needs of society. Advertising is a manifestation of real existence, obeying the laws of the economic lever and beyond anyone's control. Both the French authorities and the public have a poor impression of Muslims; the government has adopted various restrictive policies and discriminatory measures toward Muslims, and women's clothing is restricted by law. But food is the people's first necessity—people must eat—and the delicacies promoted in advertising carry no political intent. From the ads, many foods that French people love now carry the 'halal' brand, proving that Muslims in France have integrated into society and follow local customs, which is an undeniable sign of progress; yet Muslims persist in being halal.