EDEKA urges retailers to boycott specific media outlets

The EDEKA retail group has reportedly issued communications to its approximately 3,200 independent entrepreneurs and 809 regional cooperatives, urging them to boycott certain media outlets. The initiative, which appears to be driven by EDEKA’s Hamburg-based Public Affairs department following pressure from the political organization Campact, encourages retailers to review their advertising environments on YouTube.

Campact has reportedly sought to create blacklists of media channels, including Tichys Einblick, categorizing them with labels such as “AfD-nah” (close to the AfD) or “right-wing extremist.” The goal of these campaigns is to deprive specific media outlets of advertising revenue by pressuring companies to avoid placing ads on their platforms. This follows similar historical patterns of attempting to financially isolate media perceived as critical of the government or opposition-friendly.