By Ian Neubauer
Consumer organisation Choice has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate Coopers over claims it is using false and misleading information to promote the green credentials of its beer.
Choice made the allegations over a series of advertisements that describes Coopers as Australia’s greenest beer and employs the tagline “Big Beer, tiny footprint”, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The call followed a story published by Choice in August that compared Coopers to Lion Nathan’s Barefoot Radler and Foster’s Cascade Green — three Australian beers that claim to be environmentally superior.
“Coopers at least appears to have taken the more challenging and ultimately environmentally responsible route of ‘greening’ the whole company. Coopers generates its own electricity onsite, has water recycling facilities and avoids additives and preservatives,” Choice said.
“The trouble is, Coopers doesn’t provide the reassurance of third-party certification, or support its claims with much evidence. When we asked, Coopers couldn’t confirm what world’s best practice is, nor could it provide comparable data on how it was performing in relation to other beer manufacturers in Australia.”
Last year Coopers drew fire over an advertisement that appeared on UK billboards featuring the slogan “Forget the monarchy, support the publicans”.
The Adelaide-based brewery canned the advertisement after receiving complaints from monarchists, who accused it of selling a political message, The Guardian reported.
Coopers executive chairman Glenn Cooper could not be reached for comment today (August 25).