Migros ad gaffe highlights Romandie's linguistic identity

Swiss retailer Migros is facing public criticism after a World Cup advertisement used "soixante-dix" (70) instead of the traditional Romandie term "septante" for seventy. The advertisement, aired during the Switzerland-Qatar match, sparked immediate backlash on social media, with many viewers expressing offense at the perceived disregard for regional linguistic identity.

The enthusiastic cashier in the commercial declared the price as "Treiiiiize, soixante-dix!" This phrasing, common in French-speaking Switzerland outside the Romandie region, was seen as a significant misstep by many viewers from the Romandie, where "septante" is the standard term.

Migros quickly responded to the outcry, acknowledging the error in various media outlets. The company described it as a "misstep in the French adaptation of the spot, which was based on a Swiss-German version." They admitted that this linguistic detail was overlooked during numerous checks, including by French-speaking employees.

Linguist Mathieu Avanzi commented that Migros had made a "major communication error." Avanzi, a specialist in the French spoken in Switzerland at the University of Neuchâtel, found it surprising that the mistake was not caught by French-speaking individuals within the company. He noted that while some regional words can be replaced by their French equivalents without causing offense, "septante" and "nonante" (90) are terms for which "uniformization of French does not pass."