Rachael Davis
Aldi is one of the nation’s most beloved supermarkets, with countless converts espousing its products’ solid quality and affordable prices.
Those products, however, occasionally come under fire, particularly where similarities to other brands’ wares are concerned.
One famous example came in a legal dispute between Aldi and M&S over the former’s Cuthbert the Caterpillar Cake. M&S claimed the cake bore too similar a resemblance to its own Colin the Caterpillar Cake, with the companies reaching an agreement in court that resulted in alterations to Cuthbert’s design.
Now another of Aldi’s products is in hot water for different reasons.
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It’s Reprobates Sparkling Wine has been removed from sale following claims from an alcohol regulator that its branding had an associated with criminal behaviour.
The wine’s labelling featured an image of a man holding up a blackboard as if for a police mugshot. Written on the blackboard was the product’s name.
Its neck label meanwhile bore tally-like scratches, evoking the cliché of inmates counting days by engraving a tally on their cell walls.
The regulator, Portman Group’s Independent Complaints Panel, said the branding connoted serious criminal behaviour warranting a custodial sentence.
Per the code of practice, this breached rules around associating alcohol with criminal behaviour. Alcohol’s reputation for associations with criminality is capable of speaking for itself, of course.
The complaint was made by Zenith Global Commercial during Portman Group’s audit of the UK market.
A separate complaint made against Reprobates California Red Wine was reportedly dropped.
However, both complaints pertained to the same issue around potentially promoting or glamourising illegal activity.
For the California Red Wine, whose labelling shows a dog wearing a hoody, was described as ‘dark and edgy’ but was not found to have a meaningful association with antisocial, aggressive or illegal behaviour.
The name ‘Reprobates’ was also cleared of being in breach of the code.
“We considered both of these products in the round to decide if the overall impression was one that was in breach of the code,” said Rachel Childs, chair of the Independent Complaints Panel, in a statement.
“The decisions in both cases demonstrate how some features are acceptable in isolation but can become problematic when combined with other design elements.”
Referring to the complaints, an Aldi spokesperson said: “As a responsible retailer, we take issues surrounding the sale of alcohol very seriously and go to great lengths to ensure all our wines comply with the relevant regulations.”
FOODBible has approached Aldi for comment.