ADVERTISING: Love That Supermarket

When the Department of Justice went after the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. with an antitrust suit two months ago (TIME, Sept. 26), it thought it had a popular target. The trustbusters thought that small grocers would be glad to see the A & P chopped down to size. Last week A & P happily produced evidence that the trustbusters might have guessed wrong. In full-page newspaper ads in 1,800 cities, the

Company reproduced a handful of the attacks which 50 independent retailers and small chains have made on the Government for its prosecution of A & P.

“Why are they monkeying with the A & P?” asked the Wayne Public Market of Wayne, Mich. “A & P is one of the leaders in holding food costs down . . . We regard this threat … as a threat to us.” Groceryman Paul Simpson, who learned his trade behind an A & P counter before he opened his two Atlanta supermarkets, said: “I welcome A & P competition because … A & P taught me to serve the public better.” Wrote an independent New Orleans supermarket operator: “Destroying the A & P would mean eliminating competition.”

On the trustbusters’ side, the National Federation of Independent Business, which says it represents 136,000 small businessmen, has opened a newspaper campaign of its own. Its headline cried: “‘A & P ADVERTISEMENT FALSE’—STATES U.S. DEPT. OF JUSTICE.” But the federation was having a hard time making its rebuttal in Washington newspapers, where it thought it would have the most effect. The Post, Star and Times-Herald, which usually carry A & P ads, refused the federation’s ad. Only the Daily News, which carries no regular A & P advertising, would run it.