Amul defending its turf: Classic incumbent behaviour
Business
Soy milk is not milk, claims Amul!
Amul has been on a mission since last year to disallow the use of the term ‘milk’ from labels of almond, soya, oat, coconut, and rice beverages. Amul objects to such beverages being described as ‘almond milk’ or ‘soya milk’.
This behaviour is not new from Amul
This behaviour is not new from Amul and it had gotten into a similar clash with HUL* earlier on the ice-cream vs frozen desserts advertising. The court had then ruled in favour of HUL and Amul had to take the advertising off-air.
* Amul had, in 2017, launched the ad campaign, “Eat real ice cream and not vanaspati based frozen desserts”. HUL objected to the ads stating that vanaspati is not used in the manufacture of frozen desserts by Kwality Walls, instead, edible vegetable oil is used, and therefore, the ad was misleading the consumers.
To be or not to be, FSSAI to take a call
Last year, Amul had urged the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to instruct the manufacturers of plant-based beverages to remove the word ‘milk’ from their labelling and refrain from using the term ‘dairy’ in any communication as it was in violation of existing regulations.
FSSAI had introduced a draft notification in August 2020 to stop the use of the word ‘milk’ for these products and was in discussions with industry representatives to arrive at its final verdict within 1–2 months’ time.
Amul takes things into its own hands
This delay seems to have made Amul and the larger dairy industry antsy. Therefore, to fight what it calls “a spread of misinformation”, the dairy brand, in March 2021, rolled out advertisements in newspapers and on social media talking about the difference between milk and plant-based beverages.
The advertisements busted “myths” such as “plant-based beverages are rich in nutrients”, “plant-based beverages are milk” and “plant-based beverages are a sustainable food system” etc.
Advertising council steps in and upholds the contentions of Amul
The campaign grabbed the interest of NGOs like PETA, Beauty Without Cruelty (BWC), and others, who decided to voice their displeasure to ASCI (Advertising Standards Council of India).
ASCI, which is a self-regulatory voluntary organisation of the advertising industry, upheld the contentions of Amul and observed that plant-based milk is not covered under the definition of ‘milk’ as per FSSAI. The regulator upheld the contention of Amul that “plant-based beverages are impersonating and masquerading as dairy products,” as not objectionable.
PETA steps in, asking Amul to switch to vegan products
Unhappy with ASCI’s decision, PETA wrote a letter to Amul in late May, asking it to switch to making vegan products. “We would again like to encourage Amul to benefit from the booming vegan food and milk market, instead of wasting resources trying to fight the demand for plant-based products that are only growing. Other companies are responding to market changes, and Amul can too”, PETA India said in a letter addressed to the MD RS Sodhi.
Hon. PM, Please Ban PETA. Yours Truly, Amul
This sparked a Twitter row, with Amul MD saying that “PETA wants Amul to snatch livelihood of 100 million poor farmers and handover all it’s resources built over the last 75 years with farmers’ money to market genetically modified soya of rich MNC at exorbitant prices, which average lower middle class can’t afford.” Both sides have waged an ugly war of words which subsequently resulted in Amul’s letter to the PM.
Veganism: The winner of this spat? Maybe
At the core of this entire issue, is the global discourse on vegan, vegetarian and non-vegetarian lifestyles and which is more eco-friendly. Globally and in India, too, animal rights activists have been rooting for a lifestyle that is devoid of animal products in food and otherwise. PETA’s letter hinges on the explosive growth of the vegan industry in the US (2 billion USD) and the early signs of this trend’s manifestation amongst rich millennial Indian consumers.
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