FNC 2026: what the TV ad battle teaches hunting societies

On 20 March 2026, the association “Futur Asso” published a video denouncing the presence of pro-hunting ads on Gulli, an M6 group channel aimed at children. Within 24 hours, the broadcasts were suspended. The FNC lost a broadcasting channel. Anti-hunting campaigners claimed a victory.

And you, in your hunting society, watched from a distance.

It would be a mistake to see this as a Parisian affair with no local impact.

The FNC’s 6th TV campaign: what it says, what it does not show

The Fédération nationale des chasseurs (FNC, France’s national hunting federation) launched its 6th national TV campaign on 15 March 2026, under the slogan “Qui va a la chasse… trouve sa place” (roughly, “Who goes hunting… finds their place”).1 Three 20-second spots, each targeting a profile: young men, women, people in their forties. The soundtrack? A rearranged version of Michel Delpech’s “Le Chasseur”. The media plan: more than 1,400 broadcasts scheduled from 15 March to 5 April 2026 on TF1, CNews, Gulli, cable, satellite, catch-up and streaming.

You will not see a single firearm. This is not out of embarrassment. Television advertising for firearms is formally prohibited in France, just as it is for alcohol and tobacco.2 The FNC had no choice. So it chose to show people: in the forest, among friends, across generations.

The target figure is clear. According to an IFOP study presented at the Deauville congress on 19 March 2026, 7% of French people say they are ready to join the ranks of hunters, nearly 5 million potentially interested individuals.3 The FNC wants to tap into this pool. The 2022-2023 season had 960,000 licence validations.1 Stabilising this number and pushing it upward: that is the stated mission.

The digital side goes beyond TV. Snapchat, TikTok, a partnership with influencers on the series “Ma premiere fois” (My first time): the FNC is adopting formats it ignored ten years ago.4 57% of licence candidates are now under 30, and women represent nearly a quarter of new registrations in several departments.4 The membership renewal is moving forward. Staying above 950,000 validations in a climate of increasing regulatory pressure is no small feat.

The Gulli affair: how a petition forced a media group to back down in 24 hours

The mechanism is straightforward and worth looking at calmly.

“Futur Asso” launched a petition and generated media pressure on social networks. Gulli suspended the broadcasts immediately. No legal proceedings, no formal notice. A media group calculated that the reputational risk outweighed the commercial benefit of the advertising contract.

This has been the method of anti-hunting associations for several years. They do not always aim to win in court. They aim to create friction: petitions, boycott calls, mass complaints. Getting a withdrawal costs less than challenging a campaign on its merits.

For the FNC, the loss is limited. Gulli is one channel among many, and the remaining 1,400 broadcasts continue as planned.2 The controversy even generated press coverage that the campaign budget could not have bought. This is not the first time: in 2021, a similar complaint was filed with the Jury de Deontologie Publicitaire (French advertising standards body).

But the signal is there. Opponents of hunting have mastered the tools of media pressure. They know where to push and how quickly.

What the political context changes on the ground

The March 2026 municipal elections reshuffled the map of Green-majority towns. Pierre Hurmic lost Bordeaux with 49.05% of the vote against the Macronist Thomas Cazenave at 50.95%. Begles, Poitiers and Strasbourg went to other lists.5

Francois Kraus, director of the political division at Ifop, summed up the sequence: “2020 was an electoral hold-up, helped by abstention and the Covid context.”5

This shift can have practical effects for hunters: fewer municipal orders restricting hunting in peri-urban areas, simpler relations with certain town councils, authorisation requests that go through without systematic obstruction.

Two caveats. Lyon remains in Green hands with 50.67% of the vote, as does Grenoble. And the next elections could swing back the other way. A municipal result does not transform public opinion on hunting. It temporarily shifts local power dynamics.

What all this changes for your local society

The FNC can fund TV ads. It can buy placements on TikTok. It can pay influencers. You cannot.

What you can do, Willy Schraen himself said at the Deauville congress: the primary recruitment channel remains human and relational.4 A majority of new hunters arrive through the recommendation of someone they know, not via a TV spot. Not via an algorithm. Via someone who told them “come and hunt with us, we run a tight ship”.

That changes how you should think about organising your outings.

A well-run driven hunt leaves a positive memory. Every participant who goes home happy is a potential ambassador. Every participant who waited two hours with no information about the stands, who did not receive clear safety instructions, who ended up confused about which zones were allowed: that person does not come back. And they talk about it.

Your society’s local communication is exactly that. Not a logo, not a page with photos of game. It is the quality of the experience you deliver at every outing.

Three practical points you can act on directly:

1. A clear invitation with all the information (date, location, instructions, confirmed participant list) avoids last-minute calls and misunderstandings. That saves the secretary two hours.
2. Knowing exactly who is coming lets you allocate stands properly. No overcrowding, no hunter forgotten on the list.
3. A summary sent to all participants within 24 hours after the outing maintains the sense of belonging. Someone who hears nothing after their outing will gradually disengage.

There are 70,000 hunting associations in France, roughly two per commune.1 Most will never run a TV ad. Their only communication tool is the quality of what they organise.

The right response to anti-hunting pressure

Anti-hunting groups have a structural advantage: they are concentrated, reactive on social media and do not need to convince everyone. They just need to amplify incidents.

Your best response is not to counter-argue on the same platforms.

It is to give them nothing to work with.

A safety incident in your society does more damage to hunting’s image in your commune than ten TV campaigns can repair. Conversely, twenty years of well-organised hunts, helping farmers, maintaining hedgerows, inviting neighbours to come and see how things work: that builds a local reputation that no petition can demolish in 24 hours.

The FNC campaign is a national tool, designed to reach millions of strangers. Your local reputation is built differently, with people you know, within a handful of communes.

Organising your hunts with rigour is your best showcase. Mes Chasses is built for that: invitation management, participant confirmation, stand allocation, harvest tracking. Try it free.

References