Real vs Fake: Citizens for Real Orange Juice!
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ANALYSIS, Global - In Australia, UK, Canada and the USA, as well as some sections (though thankfully not all) of continental Europe, there is a covert operation in progress.
This covert operation started in the 1970s, and has reached it’s peak in this decade.
It’s the operation by some large multi-national corporations to replace real food with fake food, mass-produced food. And corporations are foisting larger-volumes of higher-profit ‘fake’ food on us instead of providing real food.
Fake food products are seen most in countries and markets without sufficient regulation of product quality, most notably many English-speaking and the more corrupt emerging countries.
The answer is regulating locality, labeling, sizes and choice of food products we purchase.
Real OJ
A simple example, this morning I go to the supermarket across the road to buy some Orange Juice. I normally buy the locally produced, squeezed, so-called ‘premium’ orange juice.
In other words, real orange juice. That tastes like Orange Juice.
Today, the shelf where all real juices were was cleared out. At $5.69 or more for 1.5L, they are not cheap.
The product is Original Juice, Black Label Premium. With real juice from real Australian oranges, without being reconstituted.
This scene of declining shelf-share of ‘real’ products, is repeated in beverages worldwide, from USA to Australia to less-regulated European economies. With dumping, it is worse in emerging markets.
Fake OJ
But on the underneath shelf, the cheap juices are virtually untouched, despite being on special. At around $3.69-3.99 for 2L, up to $2 cheaper for 0.5L more.
Brands like Spring Valley, Fruitopia, Berri (in the bottles) - are not real OJ.
They are non-local, imported OJ. Or a mix of Australian & imported.
And/or fully reconstituted (Australian or otherwise) or a mix of reconstituted and/or part concentrate. There’s no pulp.
Not one of them states which country the contents come from (unless Australia), and none of them state what measures they take to ensure the safety of the food.
Management By Remote Control to Make Fakes
Now having worked at many corporations, I do not trust that some guy or gal on a conference call to China or Argentina is going to be able to control quality on the ground in the juicing plant in another far-away country.
Especially when all the factory does is place a label on a pre-made bottle of juice.
Language, distance, local regulation or corruption are all problems for any corporate in-country manager, exarcebated by budgetary pressures for cost-cutting inside corporations.
This management by remote control cannot control quality as well as a manager on the ground. Even so, a sole country manager or regional manager cannot be expected to control quality in the face of pressures and rewards for meeting his or her budget.
Global corporations neglect local cultural behaviors.
The real issue: Consumer Choice
The real issue, is when some far-Right politicians, and other people with no common sense in the application of Economics, talk about free markets they don’t understand how corporations implement free markets.
Free markets only actually work when the people in corporations are ethical, or when corporations are regulated. Particularly in the matter of ensuring competition.
Duopolies like beverage companies Coca-Cola and Schweppes have similar effects on society as monopolies. And reality is they own most beverages of convenience that we buy.
The issue: Consumers prefer (buy) the real OJ. Yet we get sold in greater quantity the (fake).
Beverage Industry Practises - Against Competition
One reason is because of a beverage industry practise I observed at 20 as an employee of Mason Duflex, POS-printing specialist, working on point-of-sale and shelving systems for Coca-Cola.
The beverage industry practise is to stack the shelves with set quantities of beverage flavours - in Coke’s case, Coca-Cola, Diet Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, and various varieties.
Of course, Coca-Cola sells first, and most widely; but many people have a second preference they will purchase. Say, Sprite.
The other industry practise is something that started with small shops — free beverage fridges in return for stocking Coca-Cola or Schweppes products. Fair enough, and inarguably of benefit to small shop-owners.
But in most countries where these corporations are not regulated, increasingly exclusivity agreements prevents consumers having any choice. In many cases, the shop is prevented, or persuaded, not to stock other beverages.
You can see this in your supermarket today. Esepecially in Australia. Shelves stocking huge expanses of one product, say only in 1 or 2 (generally large sizes) sizes. Maybe there are only 2 choices in a category.
I remember Coca-Cola’s number one marketing priority was up-selling consumers on ever-larger soft-drink packs. The 2L in packs of 4, or the 600mL ‘Buddy’ instead of 375mL can.
So go to another shop? We’ll see how that works…
More insidious are events, like horse races or sports. Where you pay to enter, yet when you enter the only beverages you have a choice of are one company.
Even more insidious is the dubious practise of extending this to the railways station, or shops within a ‘1 mile’ radius.
These are the sort of deals Schweppes appear to have at major race events in say Caulfield, Melbourne. Even on the train station, or in the venue, not a Coke machine in sight.
What we have then are duopolies appearing to agree not to compete, whether implicit or not.
In my opinion, logically it appears to be anti-choice, anti-competitive behaviour.
In effect, perhaps at these events, we have an ANTI-COMPETITION ZONE. An area where the corporate contract supercedes the rule of law or regulation. And this is becoming ever more frequent…
If I am in that event venue or even that area do I have a choice? Not really. Sure there may be a few rebel stores, but they will be squeezed out.
So why does this matter?
Because, simply, the corporations, often a duopoly, then set the quality and specifications of the product. And, in accordance with law, these corporations act to maximise profit. It is the role of Government to umpire, and regulate the industry, as occurs in the EU.
Food standards are far higher in the European Union than USA or Australia.
In Australia or the USA if your corporations wants to import concentrate from China (which one Australian beverage company does very quietly according to rumours) and mix it in? Fine.
But who checks the safety of that concentrate. And taste. Doesn’t taste matter?
Do we trust you to check that the beverage concentrate is healthy? Probably not. It may comply with watered down standards, it may not, but the reality is most food is only fixed after a complaint by consumers. It’s all on the consumers shoulders. Caveat Emptor, indeed!
But how can consumers complain if they do not know what is causing their upset stomach? So answers start with labeling…
Self Regulation fails,long-term
As it stands, in unregulated zones, increasingly corporations choose for us what products we buy. This is the big problem. More insidiously they stamp out competitors in an environment where there conduct is self or industry regulated. Or unregulated, if you prefer.
Light-regulation creates grounds for collusion against consumers, implicit or otherwise.
And it leads to pretend or watered down-products that charge the same price for the lesser quality substitute, as in our orange juice example.
Substitution and poor quality is worse in emerging economies where large global monopolies and duopolies dump product at prices that drive out local producers.
Time and again: Orange Juices, Soft Drinks, petrol, wine, beer, chocolate, and many other product in the shopping trolleys of ordinary people.
A Question: Wither Regulation?
So where’s your free markets, now? Where’s innovation? Unless Coke Cherry Cola is innovation?
Free markets, people, don’t remain free except with regulation.
If you look at food products of multi-nationals like Kraft & Nestle in heavily regulated countries like France they are undoubtedly of superior quality than Australian or US food products.
Ethics can remove the need for regulation, but in larger global markets, based on experience and multiple cultures a common set of Christian ethics cannot be assumed.
Regulation is required to prevent corporate control of our choices in global markets.
Speaker. Author. Editor-In-Chief. Executive Director of Innovation, 2thinknow.
2 Responses to “Real vs Fake: Citizens for Real Orange Juice!”
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I like your writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
- Sue.
Mar 13th, 2008 at 4:36 am
[…] Christopher Hire wrote a fantastic post today on “Real vs Fake - Citizens prefer Real Orange Juice!”Here’s ONLY a quick extractThis is worse in emerging economies where large global monopolies and duopolies dump product at prices that drive out local producers. Time and again: Orange Juices, Soft Drinks, petrol, wine, beer, chocolate, and many other product in … […]