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A decade of social protest

A decade of social protest: What happened to the cottage that took Israel to the streets?

The cottage became a symbol of protest over the cost of living in 2011, and in that of 2014 the Milky Way entered a similar box.

Under the auspices of government supervision and the fear of manufacturers, the cost of those products remained relatively low.

But the suckers are the same suckers - and the real and high price is charged in other ways

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• cottage'

• Milky

• The social protest

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Tuesday, 29 June 2021, 08:46 Updated: 08:55

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Exactly a decade ago, in July 2011, many thousands of citizens took to the streets to demonstrate the cost of living in the State of Israel.

Shortly before, in June of that year, Itzik Alrov, through a group on Facebook, called for a consumer boycott of Tnuva cottage cheese, and managed to enlighten consumers that the price of the product had risen by close to 50% in the three years he was not monitored. .

The decision to remove the supervision of the cottage was made by the government in 2008, headed by Finance Minister Avraham Hirchenson, in order to encourage competition between manufacturers.

But in retrospect she created the opposite.

The cottage, which was sold during the inspection years at a price of NIS 4.82, rose in 2011 to more than seven shekels.

The cottage, which then became a symbol of protest over the cost of living and food prices in Israel, was not chosen by chance.

It was and still is a major product in the Israeli consumer's shopping cart.

In almost every shopping at the supermarket, our shopping cart will also have a cottage.

More on Walla!

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(Photo: Omar Miron)

The cottage protest, as it was called then and is remembered to this day, was soon joined by more than a hundred thousand surfers, which led in those days, according to reports from the retail chains.

The protest led to a significant decrease in the volume of product sales, until the chains decided on a discount and promotions on their own initiative.

The participants in the protest, who received extensive media coverage, backing from the citizens and what they shouted at them, realized that they had enormous power.

In October 2011, Zehavit Cohen, the controlling owner of Tnuva and a board member of the company, announced that it did not intend (as a manufacturer) to lower prices, which led to a mass consumer boycott of all the company's products.

Days later, Tnuva surrendered and announced Cohen's resignation, and at the same time a permanent and immediate price reduction of 15%, the price of the cottage was then set at NIS 5.90.

So what has happened to the cottage since the 2011 protest?

The price of Tnuva Cottage these days is NIS 5.5 on average.

The price reflects a decline since 2011, unlike other unregulated products.

Despite the presence on the supermarket shelves of similar products from different manufacturers, it holds more than 70% of the overall market share in the category.

The Milky Way protest

The Milky Way protest, or "Berlin protest" as it was called in the media, was another network protest that began in September 2014 on Facebook and caused a great deal of noise.

It started following a comparison of the price of a product similar to Milky in Berlin, which was sold at a price of 0.19 euros, about 80 agorot, compared to Strauss' Milky, which was then sold in Israel for about three shekels, almost four times its price in Berlin.

This protest did not reach huge dimensions like the cottage protest, but re-raised the issue of the cost of living on the agenda.

Some would argue that this protest, although not as widespread as in the summer of 2011, has brought about changes in the intentions of young Israelis to immigrate to countries where the average wage is the same or even higher, but the cost of living is much lower.

The image that ignited the protest.

"Milky" in Berlin (Photo: Screenshot, Facebook)

Parallel products released to other manufacturers have not been able to bite significantly in the sales volume of the Milky Way.

Unlike other delicacies, Israelis find it difficult to replace it.

If there is a decline in its sales volume, then it is likely that it is not necessarily related to price, but mainly to other influential decisions such as the growing awareness of a healthier diet.

So what has happened to Milky since the 2014 protest?

Milky Strauss' price has not changed since then and remains at an average of NIS 2.80.

Unlike other products like it, which are not supervised.

Similar products have entered the market since then: the Yulu brand with Tnuva whipped cream and the Moo brand of Terra, which despite its tens of percent cheaper price than Milky Strauss, has not been able to bite significantly in its market share.

Similar to Cottage, Strauss' Milky leads by a large margin in this category and holds about 90 percent of the market share.

Under the influence of the great protests they provoked, the cottage and the milky became symbols. A symbol of the cost of living, the power of consumer protest and the huge differences in prices between Israel and other developed countries.

But awareness aside and impact aside: Regarding these two products, manufacturers and retailers are indeed afraid to raise prices, but the fate of other products from the same family is different. Milky Top with toppings, for example, is sold at an average price of NIS 4.60, as is its light version, which costs NIS 4.25 on average and the quantity in the product is reduced by about 20% from regular Milky (138 grams compared to 170 grams). This gap charges the difference on leaving the base product reasonably priced.

So at the end of a decade since the 2011 protests, does the Israeli consumer understand the power he has and can prevent price increases? Or did we just release some steam on Rothschild Boulevard and social media, but were left with the same suckers who do not notice that for every shekel discount that goes into one pocket, 50 shekels are taken out of us from the other pocket?

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid began his political career exactly a decade ago, when he carried on the fumes of the social protest that led him and there is a future to an excellent achievement in the 2013 elections and to the Office of the Minister of Finance.

We will have to wait and see if he remembers the protest ideas that opened the door for him as one of the most powerful people in the government.

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