Japanese makers of Tropicana fined ¥19 million for '100% Melon' juice with only 2% melon juice
In September of last year, the popular juice brand Tropicana was put in the spotlight in Japan over a considerable bit of deceptive marketing. The matter was Tropicana 100% Whole Fruit Melon Taste, which you might assume is made of 100% melon by the name. In fact, you might even assume that from the carton on which only melon is clearly visible and phrases such as “100% MELON TASTE” are printed.
However, upon closer inspection, this product contains only two percent actual melon juice blended in with 98 percent apple, grape, and banana juices. With this realization, you might then notice that there actually is a slice of apple, a bunch of grapes, and a banana on the carton, albeit fairly well camouflaged among the melon.
However, it appears that the Consumer Affairs Agency wasn’t quite done with Kirin and on Jan 18 ordered the beverage maker to pay a fine of 19,150,000 yen for violating the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations.
The figure was arrived at by calculating the sales of the product between June 2020 and April 2022, when the original package was in use. According to the Truth-in-Advertising Law, the fine should be three percent of that amount, or to put it another way, one percent more than the amount of actual melon juice in the drink.
When news of the fine was reported, online comments were surprised that Kirin had even gotten away with it for as long as they did. On the other hand, some comments came out in defense of the drink, saying that consumers should be more aware of what they’re buying.
It is almost bizarre to be so misleading about something like this. Personally, I’d be more likely to drink the stuff had they never pushed the melon taste so much and been honest about it being a blend. In fact, I tried some last September when news broke and quite liked it, mostly because the melon taste was present but not overwhelming.
It almost seemed like Kirin was doing more harm than good with the misleading labeling. But regardless, it’s good to know that the government is working to keep companies honest so we can be more confident about what we buy.
Source: japantoday.com
