5 ms·

Oat milk companies aren't trying to trick consumers. We drink Coconut milk and the box has two big coconuts in the middle. The only mention of milk is relativ

by treis 3y ago

Oat milk companies aren't trying to trick consumers. We drink Coconut milk and the box has two big coconuts in the middle. The only mention of milk is relatively small text towards the bottom of the box. The vegetarian sausage/patties and similar sorts of products do the reverse. They mimick meat products as closely as they can and relegate the vegetarian part to the small text. It's a basic truth in advertising/fraud thing. Obviously not a mind reader but sure looks like these companies are at some level trying to trick people into buying their product.

qwertox 3y ago
Yesterday I was confronted with a "Leverwurst", where "Leberwurst" (liverwurst) is the one with meat. Initially I thought it is an odd typo for an advertising effect until I realized which section I'm in.
linuxftw 3y ago
In stores around me, they put 'beyond meat' (meat's in the name for crying out loud) products right next to the actual meat.
- phkahler 3y ago
  And in restaurants you better know what the brand means because there is no label or ingredient list on the menu.
danielbln 3y ago
Vegan products enjoy a healthy markup, and vegan stuff sells nicely. No producer is relegating the fact that their product is vegan to some fine print in the hopes to trick someone trying to buy animal meat. Has anyone ever mistaken vegan meat alternatives for the real deal?
- phkahler 3y ago
  >> Has anyone ever mistaken vegan meat alternatives for the real deal? Yes. And the mistake can be fatal given some allergies.
  - danielbln 3y ago
    That is such a straw-man, c'mon. If you're that allergic, you better look at the ingredients list and don't just hope for the best when glancing at the label, especially in the US of A.
    - thomastjeffery 3y ago
      If you have had an allergy your whole life, and never once had any meat product contained that allergen, then are you really going to check the packaging? What if you thought you were getting the same thing you always get, assuming the packaging only changed slightly?
    - phkahler 3y ago
      Its not a strawman. Calling plants steak, ribs (see TFA) or even burgers is just playing word games in an area that actually means something to people. I'd say Amy argument in favor of that is some kind of BS argument. To be clear, I have no issue with the products, just the deliberately deceptive naming.
- treis 3y ago
  Of course they do. Take this one for example: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Field-Roast-Refrigerated-Classic-Smoked-Frankfurter-Plant-Based-Sausages-16-oz/165920741?wl13=3067&selectedSellerId=0 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Field-Roast-Refrigerated-Classic-... They relegate any mention of not being meat to the third most prominent text. Hilariously they even split the plant based from the meat and cheese co with the intention to fool you. The text is: (Small text) Plant Based (Big text) Field Roast (Small text) Meat and cheese co Like they're not even trying to hide that they're hiding what their product is. ETA: Contrast with coconut milk: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Silk-Dairy-Free-Gluten-Free-Unsweet-Coconut-Milk-64-fl-oz-Half-Gallon/37910813?athbdg=L1600&from=/search https://www.walmart.com/ip/Silk-Dairy-Free-Gluten-Free-Unswe... Any mention of "Milk" is like the 4th or 5th most prominent text. This is clearly a product that is not cow milk and doesn't want to be mistaken for cow milk.
  - danielbln 3y ago
    Right below it says "Plant based Frankfurters" in a font only slightly smaller than the rest. No-where does it mention meat, there is no animal printed on it and plant-based is mentioned twice, right on the front label, once in small, once in medium letters. I mean, what do you expect? I'm all for producers not fooling customers, but compared to really egregious things you sometimes see in the US, your example doesn't strike me as deceptive at all.
    - treis 3y ago
      >No-where does it mention meat It's literally called "meat and cheese co". You have to look above the branded and bold FIELD ROAST to see that it's a "plant based meat and cheese co". You've gone from: >Vegan products enjoy a healthy markup, and vegan stuff sells nicely. No producer is relegating the fact that their product is vegan to some fine print To quibbling about whether clearly secondary text counts as "fine print". It's not an honest argument. To further illustrate, I never said "fine print". I said "small text". You're trying to shift my goal posts in order to find some fig leaf to be right.
      - 3y ago
- demurgos 3y ago
  > Has anyone ever mistaken vegan meat alternatives for the real deal? Yes, I was in Portugal this summer for vacations. I don't know the language and was shopping for groceries. In the meat aisle I saw a package and recognized the word for "sausage" in big so just bought some. Later at home I discovered that it was a vegan product. I did not really mind, but the packaging felt quite deceptive. Obviously it's not an every day occurrence to shop in a foreign country, and it would have been solved if I carefully analyzed the products I pick; but I just wanted to get some groceries quickly. There were no illustrations that would hint to a vegetarian composition.
- r00fus 3y ago
  I think the vegan stuff is taking the brunt of what the industry has done to other traditional ingredients. Replacing sugar with Sucralose or HFCS (it's hidden and not made clear). Replacing butter with palm oil. Randomly adding MSG and preservatives where they can get away with it. I am not some sort of traditionalist but the food industry hasn't regulated itself on things that deeply annoy consumers (given how retail shelf stocking works, consumers aren't the ones buying from food producers directly - it's the megastores). Absent shaking up retail business model, we need regulation so consumers' needs are represented.
jakear 3y ago
Also: "JUST Egg", which according to the website (http://ju.st http://ju.st) sells "really good Eggs". Which, of course, it doesn't.
izzydata 3y ago
A slight tangent, but does anyone remember that fake commercial for Wood Milk? I feel like it was some ridiculous attempt by milk companies to make people think oat milk or almond milk is gross, but it just made me want some wood milk. Also was this actress they used just laughing at how ridiculous the milk companies were being or was she genuinely anti-milk? Not that it particularly matters.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  Aubrey Plaza never laughs. That's part of her appeal. Thank God for her deadpan sarcasm.
dylan604 3y ago
The part that bothered me was the grocery store I typically frequent reduced the shelf space for actual meat with the vegetarian meat product. Luckily, it only lasted for 6 months before the lack of sales meant removing them.
wink 3y ago
Sorry that this is somewhat of a tangent, but in the supermarkets I frequent the fact that we're talking about "patties" already makes it like 75% (or more) probable it's plant-based because they're kinda rare and everyone just buys ground beef to make burger patties.
- thomastjeffery 3y ago
  If you are going to barbeque for a dozen or more people, the pre-made patties are much more convenient, particularly because they will take the same amount of time to cook. So if that's a thing you only do every once in a while, you are a prime candidate for confusing advertising. You don't already know what the thing you want looks like, and you probably weren't expecting the ambiguity, because "meat" has meant one thing for thousands of years.
  - wink 3y ago
    True, but the larger quantity of "unknown" stuff I buy, the closer I look, usually ;) But yeah, that's why said it less of an argument, more of a fun fact. I honestly couldn't tell you if the regular supermarket I usually shop at has patties, I think not. The large one usually has everything though.
  - bevesce- 3y ago
    > because "meat" has meant one thing for thousands of years. That's super funny that you wrote that because actually "meat" comes from Old English "mete" which referred to food in general.

by treis 3y ago

qwertox 3y ago

Yesterday I was confronted with a "Leverwurst", where "Leberwurst" (liverwurst) is the one with meat. Initially I thought it is an odd typo for an advertising effect until I realized which section I'm in.

linuxftw 3y ago

In stores around me, they put 'beyond meat' (meat's in the name for crying out loud) products right next to the actual meat.

phkahler 3y ago
And in restaurants you better know what the brand means because there is no label or ingredient list on the menu.

danielbln 3y ago

Vegan products enjoy a healthy markup, and vegan stuff sells nicely. No producer is relegating the fact that their product is vegan to some fine print in the hopes to trick someone trying to buy animal meat. Has anyone ever mistaken vegan meat alternatives for the real deal?

phkahler 3y ago
>> Has anyone ever mistaken vegan meat alternatives for the real deal? Yes. And the mistake can be fatal given some allergies.
- danielbln 3y ago
  That is such a straw-man, c'mon. If you're that allergic, you better look at the ingredients list and don't just hope for the best when glancing at the label, especially in the US of A.
  - thomastjeffery 3y ago
    If you have had an allergy your whole life, and never once had any meat product contained that allergen, then are you really going to check the packaging? What if you thought you were getting the same thing you always get, assuming the packaging only changed slightly?
  - phkahler 3y ago
    Its not a strawman. Calling plants steak, ribs (see TFA) or even burgers is just playing word games in an area that actually means something to people. I'd say Amy argument in favor of that is some kind of BS argument. To be clear, I have no issue with the products, just the deliberately deceptive naming.
treis 3y ago
Of course they do. Take this one for example: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Field-Roast-Refrigerated-Classic-Smoked-Frankfurter-Plant-Based-Sausages-16-oz/165920741?wl13=3067&selectedSellerId=0 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Field-Roast-Refrigerated-Classic-... They relegate any mention of not being meat to the third most prominent text. Hilariously they even split the plant based from the meat and cheese co with the intention to fool you. The text is: (Small text) Plant Based (Big text) Field Roast (Small text) Meat and cheese co Like they're not even trying to hide that they're hiding what their product is. ETA: Contrast with coconut milk: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Silk-Dairy-Free-Gluten-Free-Unsweet-Coconut-Milk-64-fl-oz-Half-Gallon/37910813?athbdg=L1600&from=/search https://www.walmart.com/ip/Silk-Dairy-Free-Gluten-Free-Unswe... Any mention of "Milk" is like the 4th or 5th most prominent text. This is clearly a product that is not cow milk and doesn't want to be mistaken for cow milk.
- danielbln 3y ago
  Right below it says "Plant based Frankfurters" in a font only slightly smaller than the rest. No-where does it mention meat, there is no animal printed on it and plant-based is mentioned twice, right on the front label, once in small, once in medium letters. I mean, what do you expect? I'm all for producers not fooling customers, but compared to really egregious things you sometimes see in the US, your example doesn't strike me as deceptive at all.
  - treis 3y ago
    >No-where does it mention meat It's literally called "meat and cheese co". You have to look above the branded and bold FIELD ROAST to see that it's a "plant based meat and cheese co". You've gone from: >Vegan products enjoy a healthy markup, and vegan stuff sells nicely. No producer is relegating the fact that their product is vegan to some fine print To quibbling about whether clearly secondary text counts as "fine print". It's not an honest argument. To further illustrate, I never said "fine print". I said "small text". You're trying to shift my goal posts in order to find some fig leaf to be right.
    - 3y ago
demurgos 3y ago
> Has anyone ever mistaken vegan meat alternatives for the real deal? Yes, I was in Portugal this summer for vacations. I don't know the language and was shopping for groceries. In the meat aisle I saw a package and recognized the word for "sausage" in big so just bought some. Later at home I discovered that it was a vegan product. I did not really mind, but the packaging felt quite deceptive. Obviously it's not an every day occurrence to shop in a foreign country, and it would have been solved if I carefully analyzed the products I pick; but I just wanted to get some groceries quickly. There were no illustrations that would hint to a vegetarian composition.
r00fus 3y ago
I think the vegan stuff is taking the brunt of what the industry has done to other traditional ingredients. Replacing sugar with Sucralose or HFCS (it's hidden and not made clear). Replacing butter with palm oil. Randomly adding MSG and preservatives where they can get away with it. I am not some sort of traditionalist but the food industry hasn't regulated itself on things that deeply annoy consumers (given how retail shelf stocking works, consumers aren't the ones buying from food producers directly - it's the megastores). Absent shaking up retail business model, we need regulation so consumers' needs are represented.

jakear 3y ago

Also: "JUST Egg", which according to the website (http://ju.st http://ju.st) sells "really good Eggs". Which, of course, it doesn't.

izzydata 3y ago

A slight tangent, but does anyone remember that fake commercial for Wood Milk? I feel like it was some ridiculous attempt by milk companies to make people think oat milk or almond milk is gross, but it just made me want some wood milk. Also was this actress they used just laughing at how ridiculous the milk companies were being or was she genuinely anti-milk? Not that it particularly matters.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
Aubrey Plaza never laughs. That's part of her appeal. Thank God for her deadpan sarcasm.

dylan604 3y ago

The part that bothered me was the grocery store I typically frequent reduced the shelf space for actual meat with the vegetarian meat product. Luckily, it only lasted for 6 months before the lack of sales meant removing them.

wink 3y ago

Sorry that this is somewhat of a tangent, but in the supermarkets I frequent the fact that we're talking about "patties" already makes it like 75% (or more) probable it's plant-based because they're kinda rare and everyone just buys ground beef to make burger patties.

thomastjeffery 3y ago
If you are going to barbeque for a dozen or more people, the pre-made patties are much more convenient, particularly because they will take the same amount of time to cook. So if that's a thing you only do every once in a while, you are a prime candidate for confusing advertising. You don't already know what the thing you want looks like, and you probably weren't expecting the ambiguity, because "meat" has meant one thing for thousands of years.
- wink 3y ago
  True, but the larger quantity of "unknown" stuff I buy, the closer I look, usually ;) But yeah, that's why said it less of an argument, more of a fun fact. I honestly couldn't tell you if the regular supermarket I usually shop at has patties, I think not. The large one usually has everything though.
- bevesce- 3y ago
  > because "meat" has meant one thing for thousands of years. That's super funny that you wrote that because actually "meat" comes from Old English "mete" which referred to food in general.