Supermarket giant Coles is going down down after they received a fine for advertising that their fresh produce—fruit and vegetables sourced from the US and France—were “helping Australia grow”. More like, helping Australia grow a struggling, local agriculture-based economy, amirite?
Advertisements featuring the “Made In Australia” emblem above products that, weren’t, er, made in Australia at all, were deemed misleading by the consumer watchdog, ACCC. Coles will be fined a fresh $61,000. Defending consumer’s willingness to pay $10 per kilo for Aussie bananas, ACCC chairman Rodd Sims said, “Consumers should be able to rely on the accuracy of claims about food, particularly when they are prepared to pay a premium for products made in Australia.”
The slip up comes not long after Coles were taken to court by the ACCC due to their deceptive bakery products that proudly upheld the claim, “Baked today, sold today”. The ACCC brought legal action on the supermarket chain after disagreeing on the term “baked today’; for Coles, “today” actually means, “par-baked, frozen and shipped from Ireland a few weeks ago”, whereas the ACCC defines today as, today. Oops.
Coles elaborated the sentiment of, “Just fuck off and take our money” in to the wordy, “as a matter of practical expediency to avoid a lengthy and costly legal action in defending our position,” to defend the fine and justifying their reluctant surrender in to paying up.
Title photo by Ian Waldie for Getty Images.
Via SMH.
