Saputo’s Australian identity claims ‘a cynical marketing move’

Several instances of Saputo using references to being Australian owned or an Australian co-operative have been found by a Weekly Times investigation.

Mistaken identity: A sign at Saputo’s Laverton centre promoting the Canadian-owned business as “The Aussie Farmer Co-Op”.

DAIRY giant Saputo continues to claim its Devondale brand is “Wholly Australian” and sourced from an “Aussie Farmer Co-Op” despite the Canadian conglomerate taking over Murray Goulburn nearly two years ago.

A Weekly Times investigation has found several instances of Saputo products using references to being Australian owned or an Australian co-operative including:

SAPUTO trucks with the “Wholly Australian” and “100% Australian Farmer Owned” on Victorian highways;

SIGNAGE at Saputo’s Laverton centre promoting the business as “The Aussie Farmer Co-op;”

WOOLWORTHS online sales of Devondale products claiming the brand is “100% controlled by the farmers that supply the milk”.

PROMOTING Devondale as part of a “co-op of thousands of Aussie farming families” as late as January this year on Facebook;

United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Paul Mumford said it was time Saputo changed the branding to reflect its Canadian ownership.

“Two years is enough time for Saputo’s marketing department to get its act together,” he said.

“All businesses need to accurately reflect their ownership, particularly claims of Australian ownership. Saputo is a global player, nearly every dairy farmer knows this, but the customer should not be misinformed and it can claim the produce is Australian made but not Australian owned.”

While Saputo’s Laverton site still maintains its outdated Devondale branding, Saputo’s Allansford, Maffra and Leongatha factories have rebranded with generic signage from the Canadian company.

Farmer Power chief executive Garry Kerr said Saputo’s claims at Australian identity were a cynical marketing move.

“Saputo are only interested in how many dollars they can get out of Australian farmers. “They’re using the goodwill of customers to promote themselves as Australian,” he said.

“A lot of people were unimpressed when Saputo himself (chief executive Lino Saputo jnr) flew into Australia and said the company was going to get into plant-based fake milk. It’s just insult after insult.”

Saputo communications manager Debbie Jones said trucks with outdated advertising were owned and operated by third parties.

“Saputo Dairy Australia has had discussions with these carriers about removal of outdated advertising from their trailers," she said.

“SDA has been updating signage across our sites. A refresh of the Devondale brand is currently underway and will include updated signage over the coming months.”

The Montreal-based dairy giant officially took over Murray Goulburn and the Devondale brand in May 2018, after getting approval from the corporate regulator the month before.

In January, Devondale’s packaging was updated and refers to its products as “Australian Dairy” which is sourced from “free grazing dairy cows”. However, claims of Australian ownership on the new packaging have been excluded.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it was unable to comment specifically on Saputo’s branding. However, an ACCC spokesman said: “Businesses are prohibited from making any false or misleading statements about their products and services”.

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