Aldi and Lidl lower prices – Sarah Connor sings national anthem for purchasing power

Aldi and Lidl have announced price reductions. The two largest discounters by revenue said they want to provide relief to consumers in times of economic challenges.

Lidl made the first move on Saturday: It announced it had permanently reduced the prices of over 500 products, including staple foods such as wine, fruit, vegetables, cold cuts, and bratwurst. The reductions affected almost all product categories and in some cases were as much as 35 percent.

Shortly after Lidl's announcement, Aldi followed suit with a statement: "We have always set the prices in the food retail sector and have already permanently reduced the prices of around 1,000 items this year alone," Aldi North Germany CEO Felix Rottmann was quoted as saying. Hundreds more products will be cheaper in the coming weeks, including oil, bread, muesli, honey, and hazelnut spread.

The reasons: state-supporting. "We see it as our social responsibility and mission to offer the best possible value for money in the long term," said Lidl CEO Friedrich Fuchs. Aldi sounded a similar note: "In these challenging times for people on so many levels, it is our job to ensure stability by ensuring that everyone in our society can afford something good," said Swen Gallina, spokesperson for the board of directors of Aldi Süd Germany.

Lidl took its marketing to the next level by having a modified version of the German national anthem sung in one of its stores – by Sarah Connor. The lyrics read: "Unity, price, and purchasing power for the German wallet." Not everyone approves. On Lidl's and Connor's Instagram pages, some users wrote that they found the advertisement tasteless.

Ironic sideswipe: In the spot, Connor takes broth from a shelf – an allusion to her slip of the tongue in 2005. Back then, at the opening of the Allianz Arena, she sang the words “Brüh im Lichte dieses Glückes” instead of the line “Blüh im Glanze dieses Glückes”.

RND/sth