Co-op Scores Own Goal Over Their Food Bank Product Marketing

In the year 2015-2016 the public donated 10,570 tonnes of food which fed over a million people at Trussell Trust foodbanks, up from 1,225 tonnes (which fed less than 130,000 people) five years ago.

The rise of food banks and increasing need for help with food has been a high profile – and hotly contested – issue in recent years. Recent UN Food and Agriculture Organisation figures suggest that 8.4 million people struggle to access enough adequate food in the UK.

The caring, sharing, Co-op has donated 38,000 items to 25 food banks but they have faced some serious criticism on social media according to the Daily Mail, after a customer tweeted a picture of an own-brand grocery display touted as 'ideal for the food bank'.

It led to a furious response from Twitter users who accused Co-op's charitable appeal as a scheme for 'pushing stuff customers won't buy just to make a profit,' as one put it.