French intellectual urges boycott of English language advertisers
A French intellectual is urging his countrymen to boycott advertisers who promote products using the English language as part of a bid to curtail the spread of the use of English on advertising hoardings and posters.
Professor Michel Serres issued his call to arms after becoming irked at the volume of English language words prevalent around Toulouse.
He said: “There are more English words (in adverts) on the walls of Toulouse than there were German words during the Occupation.
"I want to invite the French to go on strike. Each time that advertising is English, you don't buy the product, each time a film's title is not translated, you don't go into the cinema,"
In response Serres is calling for French people to avoid products which use advertising slogans written in English or untranslated films.
The French culture ministry has fought a long battle against the increasing encroachment of English and recently ‘blacklisted’ an array of words including 'email', 'blog', 'supermodel', 'takeaway', 'chewing gum' and 'weekend' which it says should be replaced by French equivalents.