Sunday 10 February 2008

Misleading the Consumer - Cuppa Tea, Anyone?

Doesn't this look delicious? Green tea with juicy Mandarin Orange segments.... just imagine yourself relaxing with a good book and a cup of this steaming hot tea, aromatic with the fragrance of mandarin oranges
Mmmmm....
And it comes in a pyramid shaped teabag too.... Pyramid Power for the People!

But if you look closely at the small print ingredients, you'll see that somebody forgot to put the mandarin oranges in. The "real pieces of fruit" (to quote the bilingual product blurb) are mango, peach and apricot. Not a mandarin within miles.

Plus it contains SUGAR! Can't we be trusted to put our own sugar in?

Huh?

Now, I agree that the label doesn't exactly claim that it contains Mandarin Orange, but when the front of the box states "real pieces of fruit" next to a picture of six juicy orange segments, don't you think the average consumer might jump to the conclusion that this product could have encountered at least one teeny weeny segment of orange during it's manufacture?

But no, sadly just another example of manufacturers misleading the consumer with devious advertising.

I called the 1-800 number on the package. I spoke to a very polite and apologetic lady at Lipton's who said she would convey my concerns to the appropriate department, and offered me coupons for more of the product.

Very kind of you, Mr Lipton, but no thanks.

27 comments:

  1. I guess that means that you'll be sticking more to Earl Grey from now on??

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  2. That really is terrible! Whatever happened to "Truth In Advertising"? I try to read the labels of everything I buy....And it is amazing how many different names there are for sugar....! A sneaky practice I think! One has to be very self-informed or lots oif garbage can get by you. It is my humble opinion that we cannot trust the FDA any more than we can trust any other "business"....The lobbyists win, every time.

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  3. Good work, Detective.

    One day to go? We'll be thinking of you ....

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  4. try http://www.cjaytea.com/
    They have the real deal.

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  5. Long long ago I woked at Liptons supermarket in our town.

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  6. That little yellow chick is running out of shell to emerge from! The weather's changed down here. Bet the baby won't be long to arrive.

    I wonder if Lipton's south of the border sells the same stuff. Will investigate. Seems like they're all too willing to contribute to the obesity problem down here. You're so right, Ex-Shammy...we can add our own freakin' sweetening if we want.

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  7. Why didn't they just call it mango tea or peach tea or apricot tea??? It's silly that they called it mandarin orange tea PLUS advertised the bits of fruit in it.
    They should be horsewhipped!!!
    I bet the tea tastes good though.

    I can tell from your baby chick ticker that there's a new baby coming. How wonderful!!!!!!

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  8. I hear you ex-S. It's the same kind of disappointment I feel when I buy Cranberry Juice that is 100% pure juice.. pure pear.. pure apple .. pure grape and pure other juices.. but only a taste of cranberry.

    I like the Lipton's Sri Lankan Gold tea.. same pyramid tea bags.. no sugar in those, and reminiscent of Earl Gray. I also love their Spiced Chai. But one of the best recent finds was Higgens & Burke Apple Cinnamon tea. Real fruit and it just happens to be apple pieces along with the cinnamon and other interesting ingredients. It's very yummy! Just thought I'd share. ;) (purchased at Longo's if you have those up where you are).

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  9. Beware. Earl Grey is actually a Lord.

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  10. I don't drink hot tea but that label would make me mad too.
    I just noticed about the baby also. Please tell more.

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  11. I quickly looked at the Bigelow Orange and Spice Tea to see if there was any orange and any spice listed as ingredients. Yep, they're there. I shall stay with Bigelow.

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  12. Interesting! What good looking tea--at least to me!

    Pat

    Guelph Daily Photo, My Photos.

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  13. Maybe the mango et all tastes more like mandarin than a real live mandarin does. I prefer good old Tetley. Having said that, if I was to desire a cup of green tea flavoured with mandarin, I'd make green tea and steep a chunk of real fruit in there myself. This way I'd know what I was getting.

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  14. That certainly doesn't sound like truth in advertising to me. How can they intimate that when there isn't any in there? I do love a good flavored type of tea. I will have to check my boxes out.

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  15. Good that you reacted! We should all do, maybe then they would care! Anyhow, the best guarantee is to buy natural and pure stuff and possibly mix yourself! ... and personally I would not add the sugar.

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  16. You go girl....if no one complains it just continues. Recently I heard a sales pitch that said if it weren't true we couldn't say it on TV!!!! No how is that for an outright lie.

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  17. Well good for you to call them on it, i hate when they advertise something and it turns out not to be so. Hurray for you.

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  18. Shame on Lipton!

    Can't wait to hear about the new BABY on it's way soon!

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  19. What a daft thing of Liptons to do!!!
    Very wierd
    My mother used to drink Green Tea as it helps fight antioxidents and was thought to help with her MS .A couple of Christmases go I went in to Whittards shop (the famous british Tea company.) They sold lots of kinds of Green Tea, so I choose three different kinds to put in a gift box. One type was Green tea with gunpowder!!!!!!!

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  20. Companies ALWAYS offer you coupons for more of the same. What's up with that?? I'm not satisfied with it; I don't want even more of it!

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  21. Unbelievable, Ex-S. Good for you for paying attention!

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  22. Good for you for phoning! To right too , we ought to do more of this then we would probably, hopefully get better advertising and details on the box!
    I prefer 'Lady Grey' tea myself!

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  23. Advertizers are often sneaky, but this is downright dishonest!
    I'm afraid it's 'Buyer Beware' all the way these days!

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  24. Things like this make me so mad, it is so misleading, actually I thought it was unlawful to mislead in such a manner.

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  25. what bugs me comparing stuff in the supermaket is when they try to list ingredients as per portion rather than per 100gm or whatever - and often the "low-cal" or "low-fat" is only insignificantly lower or is high in an alternative undesirable.

    shopping is a considerable balancing act.

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  26. Well spotted. I guess they tried to dry the fruit and it probably looked disgusting (think of slices of lemon and orange that you sometimes find in a pot pourri), but I agree they should have just called it by another name that reflected what's in it. I like Earl Grey tea myself, but no matter how organic i go, it's always bergamot flavour that's on the list of ingredients rather than the real oil. Pukkah teas are pure though, and they have some lovely herb and spice mixtures.

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