Question 1 – Australian Consumer Law Natural Ice Cream Co is a company that adve

Question

Question 1 – Australian Consumer Law        

Natural Ice Cream Co is a company that advertises its ice cream as ‘all natural’, made in the Barossa Valley (in South Australia), and from milk produced by Australian cows.

It has been discovered, that actually the ice cream is made in Victoria, 1000’s of kilometres away from the Barossa Valley. And although most of the ingredients in the ice cream are natural they do use a chemically flavoured vanilla as natural vanilla is too expensive. Most cows were bred in Australia but recently some have been imported from Indonesia.

Using relevant legal principles, discuss whether Natural Ice Cream Co has breached section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law and what remedies may be available.

Explanation / Answer

Natural Ice Cream Co makes a GREEN CLAIM by advertising the words ''all natural''. This is called Greenwashing. But,

1. They do use a chemically flavored vanilla, which makes them fall under the Sin of Vagueness. A green claim should not contain ambiguous wordings. Such conduct is misleading.

2. They also set an example of Misleading Conduct by advertising that the Ice Cream is made in the Barossa Valley but actually making it around 1000 kilometers away in Victoria.

3. They deceive by advertising that the milk produced are by Australian cows, but, they have imported cows from Indonesia. This turns out to be a Deceptive Conduct because the action is evident.

A remedy would be a Penalty of $220,000 as the body is not corporate.

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