French TV Debate: Sarkozy's Last Chance?

FRANCE 24: Incumbent French President Nicolas Sarkozy will face Socialist challenger François Hollande in a live televised debate on Wednesday. The war of words could be Sarkozy's last chance to turn the tables on his popular rival before Sunday's election.

Current French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist challenger François Hollande will go head-to-head in a live debate on national television Wednesday evening.

Sarkozy is generally considered to be the stronger debater, and with just four days to go before the country goes to the polls, the TV battle looks to be his last real chance to make a dent in Hollande’s lead in the opinion polls.

The debate, which traditionally takes place on the Wednesday before the final round of the country's presidential election, is seen as the climax of the campaign.

Taking its format from similar political debates in the US, the face-off between the leading candidates has been a fixture of French presidential elections since 1974, with the exception of 2002, when Jacques Chirac refused to go head-to-head with far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen.

But even if Sarkozy is able to come out stronger during the debate, history is not on his side: past presidential debates have rarely influenced the outcome of elections. » | Charlotte Oberti | Wednesday, May 02, 2012

FRANCE 24: Le débat télévisé, point d'orgue de la course à l'Élysée: Ce mercredi à 21 heures, François Hollande et Nicolas Sarkozy croiseront le fer lors du traditionnel débat télévisé de l’entre-deux-tours de l'élection présidentielle. Une bataille médiatique dont chacun veut sortir vainqueur. » | Charlotte Oberti | mercredi 02 mai 2012

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Halal Ads Hit French TV
Halal butchery and poultry shelves in a supermarket in Illzach, France, on the eve of the beginning of Ramadan. Photo: TIME
TIME: A pack of shoppers swarm supermarket shelves, cheerfully snapping up packages of prepared lasagna, ravioli and paella as they sing the products' praises. Sounds just like a normal evening TV ad. And it is, only this one features ethnic-Arab actors in a commercial for halal food in France. A first in its own right, the ad is already a remarkable sight on French TV. But even more surprising is the reaction it's gotten — or, rather, hasn't gotten. In a country that's usually quick to burst into outrage over the spread of Islam into secular society, these halal-food ads have been playing without a peep from the public.

The ad campaign by Panzani-owned, Lyon-based food brand Zakia Halal is the first ever mass-market promotion of halal food to France's estimated 5 million Muslims. The TV spots kicked off on Aug. 17 to coincide with the start of the holy month of Ramadan and have been running on most of France's largest television channels since. The $430,000 campaign will be put on pause Sept. 2, then resumed as Ramadan comes to an end later this month and the feast of Eid el-Fitr approaches. Thus far, the spots have gotten a mostly supportive reaction from Muslim shoppers and the French media, with the daily Le Parisien trumpeting "Halal Takes a Spot on TV."

What's astounding is how long it took for any of France's numerous makers of halal food products to embrace this kind of mass marketing. Studies done by ethnic-marketing consultancy Solis Conseil in Paris estimate that French Muslims currently purchase about $5.7 billion worth of specialized foodstuffs and related products — a market that's been increasing nearly 15% annually for almost a decade. Solis has also found that nearly 94% of all Muslims in France with North African roots — by far the largest group of Muslims in the country — buy exclusively halal food. A recent poll by the Ifop agency found that 70% of Muslims in France are observing Ramadan this year — leaving little doubt as to the thinking behind the timing of Zakia Halal's groundbreaking ad campaign.

"Even though people have to fast during the day, Muslims tend to eat more — and better — when they can eat during Ramadan, which is why it is traditionally a period of peak consumer activity," explains Abbas Bendali, director of Solis Conseil. "Zakia's timing makes good sense because people tend to be short on time during Ramadan and will use prepared dishes along with fresh food for meals. And when you consider the size and value of this demographic, using mass-market methods to promote halal products becomes logical too." But it's also potentially inflammatory, given the tendency of the French to view overt manifestations of Islamic faith as a threat to the nation's tradition of secularity. >>> Bruce Crumley, Paris | Wednesday, September 02, 2009