Illustration of an oyster farmer opening an oyster, here in Brittany.

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Maxime Le Pihif / SIPA

Bouygues Telecom is in the sights of oyster farmers after an advertisement suggesting that oysters make you sick.

Tuesday, twenty of them demonstrated in Lorient and dumped several cubic meters of oyster shells in front of an operator's shop whose window was stained with silt.

🔴 INFO - # Lorient: Already very affected by the health crisis, angry # oyster farmers spilled oyster shells in front of the # BouyguesTélécom store in Lorient after an advertisement from the operator where it is said that oysters make you sick .

(🎥West France) pic.twitter.com/EHNIdbcMyl

- FranceNews24 (@ FranceNews24) November 10, 2020

It was the “Le van de Noël” ad that aroused the oyster farmers' wrath.

“There will be my cousin with his oysters.

So I know you love adventure, but here I don't recommend: every year, there is one who gets sick, ”says one of the actresses in this spot.

"Our oysters do not make you sick"

"We have humor but the situation is difficult," said Jacques Carrer, president of the oyster union of the Ria d'Etel.

For him, advertising "points the finger at a profession which is already having difficulties" with the health crisis and the fall in the price of oysters.

“Our oysters don't make you sick.

We asked that the advertisement be no longer broadcast and we won our case, ”added Jacques Carrer.

"If it had not been the case, the actions would have continued all week," he said, adding that the whole industry had been asked to change telephone operator.

Late Tuesday afternoon, the advertisement was no longer available on Bouygues Telecom's Youtube page.

Bouygues Telecom will modify "part" of its film

On its site, the operator acknowledged that its advertising was "controversial among certain shellfish farming professionals".

"The representatives of this profession alert us to the bad image that could be conveyed on the quality and freshness of oysters as the holidays approach, in this particularly difficult year," notes Bouygues Telecom, who "wishes to express their sincere apologies to them. and in particular to oyster farmers for the emotion generated ”.

While ensuring that its intention was "obviously not to make fun of a profession", Bouygues Telecom promises to urgently modify "part" of the film "to make it clear" that "the quality of oysters from France" is not in question.

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  • Society

  • Lorient

  • Oysters

  • Bouygues Telecom

  • Oyster farming