After cultural heritage, registered trademarks. Amor Benamor, a famous Algerian brand of couscous, is marketed in France as a product made in Morocco. Unlike previous cultural heritage appropriation cases submitted to UNESCO, this new case is a matter for the courts.
A few years ago, a lively controversy broke out between Algerian and Moroccan Internet users over the origin of couscous. The famous traditional dish was recognized by UNESCO, in December 2020, as a common heritage in the Maghreb countries following a file submitted by Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania.
This time, it is an Algerian brand of Couscous which is counterfeited and presented as being Moroccan. The product is notably marketed in France. In a video filmed in a Carrefour supermarket and widely shared on TikTok, we see stacks of the Algerian couscous Amor Benamor, in 2 kilogram packages.
France: the Algerian brand Amor Benamor is sold under the Moroccan label
The imitation is perfect, except that on the packaging boxes with a capacity of 10 packages, visible on-site, misleading information is given. We read that the couscous is made in Fez by a company whose head office is in Rabat. The logo and visual identity of Amor Benamor are reproduced identically on the boxes and packages.
The authors of this counterfeiting aim, by imitating a major Algerian brand, to make big profits as the month of Ramadan approaches when couscous is widely consumed by the Muslim community in France, a large part of which comes from Algeria.
A few days ago, another video filmed in a French supermarket showed another counterfeit targeting Algeria, but in the opposite direction. Israeli dates were presented on the stalls as Algerian dates.
The deception was easily unmasked since Algeria does not produce the type of dates in question (the Medjoul variety). The objective was to circumvent the boycott which has targeted Israeli products since the start of the aggression against the Gaza Strip
