Research

- (Assistant) Supermarketmanager (fulltime)
You are the direct management colleague and the substitute Supermarketmanager. You connect with customers, employees and neighbours. You help with organising the store as well as being a host for customers. Finance, planning for employees, team meetings, job interviews, new plans/organisation and meetings about new products are what you will be busy with during the week.

- Cashier A (side job)
Minimum of 16 years old. As a Cashier you are the business card of the store, you are the person the customers see. So you make sure the checking out goes fast and carefully so the customers leave the store with a good feeling.

- Quality employee (side job)
Minimum age of 15 years old. Makes sure the whole store is/stays clean and safe. For both customers as well as colleagues. This person also checks all the due dates on the products as well as the temperature of the fridges, make sure the trash cans are changed, coffee machines filled and the store is swept.

- Sales employee (side job)
Minimum age of 16 years old. As a sales employee you work on the control department of cheese & meats, bread or vegetables & fruit. You will become a specialist in these departments and can tell everything about it. Customers expect product knowledge and the best advice from you.

- Filling crew member (side job)
Minimum of 14 years old. As a member of the filling crew you help with unloading the truck and filling the shelves. You make sure the store looks well taken care of and help customers when they can’t find a product. You do this in a team, this way you help each other and it stays fun.

- Cassiere b (side job)
Minimum of 16 years old. As a cashier B you are able to stand at the service desk and on the selfscan plaza. You are able to open and close the store as well as guide and help the other cashiers/colleagues. You make sure you are polite and help customers when they have a complaint or want to bring/switch a product.

- Cashier Selfscan (side job)
Minimum of 16 years old. As a cashier on the self scan department you are the business card of the store. You help customers at the self scan station but also check if everything is scanned.

- Department manager (part-time)
Minimum of 16 years old. When you work this job you have to make sure the store keeps running, you guide and motivate your team. Every department (filling crew, cashier and sales) has their own department manager, however these managers are expected to know and are able to help all departments.

I think it's nice that they show customers that managers don't have to be old however it's a very typical white female when in reality supermarket managers can also have a different nationality and that's something I would like to see.

Because even in the last couple of years the dominance of white people in the Albert Heijn commercials is still very present, eventhough I do see more cultural differences than before amongst employees and customers in commercials. Below are two commercials which are most recent what shows this.

Functions in the Albert Heijn & their job description

Level 1 – Cashier A, Quality employee, Sales employee and member of the filling crew.
Level 2 – Cashier Selfscan, Cashier B.
Level 3 – Department manager.
Level 4 – Supermarket manager.

Level 1 is expected to do the basic work as well as listen to the levels that are above them, they do the basic work which contains of the basic tasks that is in their job description.

Level 2 is expected to guide and help the workers from Level 1 as well as do extra tasks such as opening/closing the store. They are also trusted to go to the safe (if nessecary) and when problems are found to find a solution for them, this can range to a wrong balance in cash difference, dealing with complaints to finding people to work for open shifts.

Level 3 is expected to overlook the staff of Levels 1 & 2 and make sure they do their job as instructed. They also deal with problems that Level 2’s can’t find a solution for as well as making the planning for all the workers and their shifts. These people are also the ones to deal with customers when the Level 1 or 2’s feel uncomfortable or don’t know how to deal with a customer. They also make sure all the employees are comfortable and satisfied with their job.

Level 4 is expected to overlook all the employees. They also deal with changes in the store, job applicants, finance, team meetings and being a host for the store. They also deal with firing and hiring people as well as making sure there are no issues on each department.

The levels in the store from low to high ordered in levels for ease:

Salary per function (estimated)

Cashier A, Sales, Filling crew, Quality employee (Contract for <12 hours a week).

Cashier A, Sales, Filling crew, Quality employee (Contract for >13 hours a week).

Department Manager (Dependant on performance)

Store managers earn between €25 - €30 euros an hour. This depends on performance and the location.

How the Albert Heijn portrays it's employees in the media

With a time line to show the progression in cultural diversity.

The oldest commercial I could find from the year 1938.

In this commercial you can see the gender stereotypes are very present.
The husband makes the money and the wife does the groceries.
Also there is a lot of repetition of the sound "AH" which stands for Albert Heijn, so the commercial makers say.

This commercial was shown in mainly cinemas and it mainly shows white people which makes sense because around 1938 the big migration from Indonesia hadn't happened yet as well as the big migration of immigrant workers which happened between 1960 - 1974. Therefor the population in the Netherlands was mainly white.

The old advertisements show only white people, even after the big migration between 1960 - 1974 which also tells us racism was still very normal and accepted.
Plus that Albert Heijn only wants to adress or speak to the 'white priviliged' population.

You can see this also in this advertisment where, I think, they also wanted to speak to the bigger crowd but stereotyped the vision of a person of color, which includes the big red lips, hairy brows and stereotypical clothing/assecoires.

It's not news to us that there was a lot of active racism around this time and that companies also engaged in this with their advertisements.

The titles below are links to the old commercials, they are on Facebook.

These commercials are from around the 80's.

Commercials from 2004 to 2014 contained this supermarket manager who was played by a white male actor.

Once again, in these commercials you see the a lot of white people and when there are non-whites they are again portrayed through stereotypical views from that time.
The use of accents and correcting them is very strongly used in the commercials above.

Commercials from the 90's, they are links.

Eventhough these commercials were made a decade later, there is still a lot of white domincance.
However, in these commercials we do sometimes see people of color apear in what seems at first glance, non racist ways which is good progression and probably relates to the kids who were born around the 1970's having grown up with people of color and now work as young adults which also inlfuences the way of creating commercials.

This was the first commercial that was made with this actor.

This commercial raises a few questions for me. When you watch the commercial there are mainly white people playing in it, as employees but also the customers shopping are dominantly white.

In the middle of the commercial you see the white supermarket manager asking an employee if he thinks 'it's festive' this employee looks moroccan or turkish which makes it weird. The manager talks to him as if it isn't supposed to be festive for him because why? Because he has a different cultural background?

In these commercials between 2004 - 2014 there is a big dominant presence of white people in the commercials for the Albert Heijn, which is kind of strange because it's not like people in the Netherlands are unaware of the different cultures. It actually is something which is very well known about the Netherlands, I believe.

This is why I find it strange that there are so many white-dominant commercials and that when there are other cultures portrayed, which is very rare, it's always with an offending undertone.

After the career of Harry Piekema as face for the Albert Heijn, they changed to a young white lady. She is introduced with a whole commercial dedicated to her and what she does.

Advertisement from 2018 about different customers in catagories made by Albert Heijn.

This advertisment didn't only raise confusion with me but with a lot of other people too.

The concept of this advertisement was to recognize what kind of customers do groceries in the Albert Heijn and what they are more likely to go for/ interested in. They used this for their employees as an example.

The problem with this is that they portrayed these 'catergories' with an illustration. Which sounds like not such a big deal, however for the better earning and premium customers they chose white males, for the budget customers they chose a black single mother and for the modern family they chose to put a composed family with two different skin tones.

Below you can see the different catagorized customers with their characteristics.

Living area -Everywhere in the Netherlands but mainly near village areas.
Income - Below average.
Household - Families with childeren.
Spending per transaction - Low
Visiting peak - Unclear.
Discount spending - Often.

Products & Brands:
Fresh vegetables and fruits are not bought often, however freezer items, pork and beer are bought more often. Product and brand wise Dutch brands and the Albert Heijn housebrand score well.

Living area - Everywhere in the Netherlands.
Income - Above average.
Household - Families with childeren.
Spending per transaction - Average.
Visiting peak - During the week, especially between 5 and 6 pm.
Discount spending - Average.

Products & Brands:
Modern families are mostly convenience buyers. Pet food and alcoholic beverages are bought less, however childeren products, snacks and basic international products are bought more. Product and brand wise child brands such as Huggies, Disney and Wicky score hight as well as fresh juices and AH baby whipes.

Living area - Everywhere in the Netherlands.
Income - Average.
Household - Families with childeren.
Spending per transaction - Average.
Visiting peak - Unclear.
Discount spending - Often.

Products & Brands:
Fresh fruit and vegetables, convenience and expensive wines are bought less, however snacks, fresh pastries and coffee milk are bought more. Product and brand wise Dutch brands and the Albert Heijn housebrand score high.

Living area - Mostly in the West of the Netherlands, in city areas as well as in non-city areas.
Income - Above average.
Household - Families with childeren and retired people.
Spending per transaction - High.
Visiting peak - During the week, mostly between 4 and 6 pm.
Discount spending - Not often.

Products and Brands:
The premium customer profil knows a not of enjoy buyers. Freezer products and bread are bought less but fresh vegetables, fresh cheese and wine are bought more often. Product and brand wise Biological products score high but also special brands such as Lindt Chocolate or luxury wines.

Living area - Mainly in the city (mostly the Randstad).
Income - Above average.
Household - 1 and 2 people.
Spending per transaction - Low.
Visiting peak - Mainly between 5 and 6 pm.
Discount spending - Not often.

Products and Brands:
Freezer products and non-food are bought less, but convenience and alcoholic beverages are bought more. Product and brand wise Biological products score high but also special brands such as Kettle Chips, Cecco pasta of Sabra Houmous.

Living area - Everywhere in the Netherlands but mainly in city areas.
Income - Below average.
Household - 1 and 2 people.
Spending per transaction - Low.
Visiting peak - The whole week between 5 and 6 pm.
Discount spending - Average.

Products & Brands:
Fresh cheese, non-food and fresh vegetables are bought less, but bread, freezer products and new Dutch assortiment are bought more. Product and brans wise Albert Heijn and Albert Heijn basic score high but also phone brands such as Lyca and Lebara or special brands like Fernandes and Yum Yum noodles.

Discrimination in hiring employees

When it comes to hiring new employees, discrimination is something which often is a topic discussed.

Supermarket managers decide who to invite for a job interview but what do they base this on?
The healthy way is of course on someone's skills and potential, however there have been many articles about that this isn't always the case.

First of all it depends on a lot of things, these being: Location, Store dynamic and the type of supermarket. What you often see is that supermarkets in small villages tend to mainly have caucasion employees whilst in the big cities the employees are much more diverse when it comes to cultural background. This might be because in small villages there tend to not be a lot of inhabitants with a different cultural background and big cities tend to have this more.

However in the supermarket where I work there is a lot of cultural diversity, I am one of the fewer caucasion employees. Because I come from a small and narrowed visioned village, I was very superised to see this and also to have a manager who had Turkish backgrounds. Which now that I look back at it, makes no sense and is very stereotypical.

There are actually a few laws about discrimination in regards to labor.

In article 1 of the Duth Constitution it says that discrimination is prohibited. The most important laws in regard to discrimination in the labor market are the following:

- Law equal treatment.
This stands for that everyone gets the same chances to a job and good labor conditions. Also to an educationn or a certain service or product. It's not allowed to discriminate on for example religion, politic view or gender.

- Law equal treatment based on a handicap or chronical disease.
This includes that people with a handicap are not allowed to be discriminated. This handicap can be fysical, mental or psychical. This law also includes that buildings and services have to be as accesable as possible.

- Law equal treatment based on age.
This includes that it isn't allowed to make distincion based on age.

- Law equal treatment of man and woman.
This includes that employees are protected against, for example, sexual intimidation.

However employers are allowed to make certain choices when hiring an employee

This information is from the same website where the laws are also presented, rijksoverheid.nl

- Is an employer allowed to make a distinction between job applicants?
Sometimes an employer is allowed to make a distinction of candidates during job interviews. For example when a certain group of people is not represented enough (positive discrimination). Or when a candidate has to be able to have certain skills so he/she can work well in the function. For example, an employer is allowed to wish for a dutch teacher who speaks dutch perfectly, this can work negatively for people who aren't originally from the Netherlands.

- Distinction at job interviews based on gender, race or age.
Sometimes only a woman or a man is qualified for a certain function, or someone from a specific race. For example, an actor with dark skin to play Martin Luther King. An employer is allowed to select on this. When a certain age is needed for a job, the reason for this should be clearly described in the vacancy.

- Disctinction at job interviews based on danger for health or safety.
An employer is allowed to refuse candidates with a handicap or chronical disease. This is allowed when it regards their health or safety, or that of colleagues or customers. The employer is not allowed to refuse them when adjustments on the workplace take away the risk for health or safety.

- Distinction at job interviews based on religion or beliefs.
An employer is allowed to demand of his/her employees to believe in a certain religion or belief, if this is nessecary for the function. For exmple, a stric christian hospital is allowed to ask for nurses who are also strictly christian to help with upholding the identity of the hospital. However a cook in the hospital may not be judged on his/her believes because his/her workplace is not with patientes.

Marketing strategies behind supermarket commercials and advertisements

The first thing supermarkets look at when thinking of marketing strategies is where they are able to grow and which group they want to target.

Than it also important to look at how you want to represent your business and the employees that work for the business. Critics tell us that Albert Heijn missed out on this field because they chose to have a new face who is clumsy, isn't able to communicate with her husband and goes sighing trough life. This raises questions if all supermarket managers at Albert Heijn are like this and if this is a correct way of portraying them.

Albert Heijn commented and shed light on why they chose this white mother for the new face of Albert Heijn in commercials:

"What we wanted to create in the marketing with Ilse (the new face) was recognision for our customers. Ilse as supermarket manager has the same challanges as a family in the Netherlands with woman and men plus childeren. With a busy life filled with work, sport, school, doing groceries and cooking. We know a lot of dutch people can recognize themselves in the tv-commercials". - Johan van der Zanden (head of marketing at Albert Heijn).

To which the interviewer asked the following: The introduction of Ilse was in the industry seen as stereotypical but it didn't seem to bother you.

"That was mostly because we didn't see this back in our analyses. We measure almost everything so this also, of course. The general public reacted completely different, the people recognized the situation actually! I think you always have people that don't want to give this kind of campaigns time and view them directly with a critical gaze. Because in our follow up campaigns all modern asppects of life fell together. Ilse is a big succes because it caused a raise in recognision amongst customers with 35%." - Johan van der Zanden (head of marketing at Albert Heijn).

When researching marketing strategies the focus is mainly put on the product and things such as usage of color. Therefor I would say that Albert Heijn, besides the goal to raise recognision amongst customers, doesn't make their marketing goals public so sadly I can not tell why the use of white people is prominant in their commercials.

What is Greenwashing?

Greenwashing is it appearing greener or more socially responsible than a company or organization actually is. People act as if they are dealing with the environment and / or other social themes in a deliberate way, but this often turns out to be no more than 'a lick of paint'.

How to recognise Greenwashing:
- Emphasis on a sustainable characteristic.
- Vague terms.
- No evidence.
- Empty quality marks.
- Price.
- Irrelevant claims.
- Goals.

This article uses the example of Albert Heijn using the words 'pure' and 'honest' in their sustainability label as an example of vague terms because they don't really tell us anything.

'Pure' is supposed to tell us something is biological, pure nature. And 'honest' is supposed to tell us the product was made with symapthic work atmosphere. Biological and fairtrait as conclusion.

How sustainable is the Albert Heijn?

By doing an investigation focussed on three sectors, so the research stays valid, the sustainability of these supermarkets is put in perspective. The three sectors being meat, fish and fruit.
Below you can see an overview of the measurements taken with random testing:

Here we can see that Albert Heijn scores pretty high compared to the other stores, however the percentages of actual sustainable products is quite sad. This means that Albert Heijn is also guilty of Greenwashing their products by making the store seem more sustainable then it actually is.

Fruit Fish Meat Average

What is pinkwashing?

Pinkwashing are diverse (political) marketing strategies, aimed at promoting products, countries, people or other entities, by painting a gay-friendly image, with the aim of being seen as tolerant, progressive and modern, using this positive image to to conceal something else. Pinkwashing is a porte manta word of Pink ("pink"), referring to the LGBT community, and Whitewashing, literally "whitewashing". The accusation was first leveled against the State of Israel, but has been used more often since then.

How is pinkwashing present in the Netherlands?

For Pim Fortuyn (a former politician), pinkwashing was part of sexual nationalism - when sexual freedom is given a prominent place in national identity. 'The Dutch is portrayed as gay tolerant, diametrically opposed to the Muslim who is said to be homophobic, conservative and backwards,' Mepschen explains.

The problem with pinkwashing is that it often has an ethnicity attached to it. 'Homosexuality is then linked to being white and the homophobic is brown, black or Muslim,' says Mepschen. It encourages racism, because with this stereotype, a whole group of people is instantly dismissed as not really Dutch.

Brands include the rainbow flag, a symbol of the LGTBQ+ community, on brands and products. But is this positive for the community and does this symbol lose it's worth. Is the LGTBQ+ community really accepted with this brand or product? Slogans unrelated to the core of the pride flag take over and people become less aware of the actual message it tries to convey.

Albert Heijn also contributed to pinkwashing by naming their 'Albert Heijn to GO' to 'Albert Heijn to Gay' during pride week and including the prideflag. However they also skimmed over the core and portray the LGTBQ+ community in a fasle way. It seems the pun is more important than actually participating in the pride movement.

What is Tokenism?

Tokenism is the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to be inclusive to members of minority groups, especially by recruiting people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of racial or sexual equality within a workforce. The effort of including a token employee to a workforce is usually intended to create the impression of social inclusiveness and diversity (racial, religious, sexual, etc.) in order to deflect accusations of discrimination.
Tokenism appears in advertising as well as other subdivisions of major media.

Tokenism is interpreted as reinforcing subtle representations of minorities in commercials. Studies have shown that, among other racial minorities, Asian Americans are targeted by advertising companies to fulfill casting diversity, but are the most likely ethnic minority to be placed in the backgrounds of advertisements.

Again Albert Heijn is guilty of doing this, the use of Tokenism can be seen in their advertisements and commercials. When a minority group is represented this person is always put in the background, which is exactly which I want to change and show to the public.