JERUSALEM — In the land of milk and honey, feelings run pretty strong when it comes to the price of cottage cheese. Surrendering to a two-week online campaign, the Israeli dairy companies that control the cheese market announced they were cutting prices by 25 percent. The victory was a rare instance of consumers banding together through social media to force companies to cut the price of a product.
Israel’s relatively small size and its tech-savvy and media-aware population enabled the protest to spread quickly. More than 105,000 people joined the Facebook group vowing to boycott cottage cheese until prices dropped. The campaign touched a nerve among Israelis concerned about rising prices and eroding salaries. Spooked by the outrage, the three main Israeli dairy companies agreed to lower the price of a half-pound container.
“Something happened here, and it changes the rules of the game in the market,” Arik Shor, a top executive at the Tnuva dairy cooperative, told Israel Radio. “We are studying it and will draw conclusions — it is an event that goes far beyond cottage.”
Cottage cheese was recently voted by Israelis to be their most “Israeli” food, surpassing even the region’s own falafel. The dairy product can be found in nearly every refrigerator in Israel.
Associated Press
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