Woolworths is adamant that it will continue selling a range of drinks it is accused of copying from small-scale soft drinks maker Frankie’s, pending an enquiry by the Advertising Standards Authority of SA.
The dispute between the retailer and independent Frankie’s has built media momentum over the past few days, including the establishment of a petition against Woolworths on social network Facebook.
Yesterday Zyda Rylands, the managing director for foods at Woolworths, said that the food, clothing and homeware retailer was “very clear that we did not copy” other brands.
Woolworths prided itself on its innovation framework.
“We find ourselves in a difficult place where our integrity has been challenged,” she said.
On Monday Mike Schmidt, the founder of Frankie’s, which has been producing the old-fashioned soft drinks from the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands since 2006, criticised Woolworths on radio after some regular Frankie’s brand consumers had congratulated him on his listing with Woolworths.
Schmidt said he had discovered that Woolworths had not only used similar colours to Frankie’s “retro style” drinks packaging but had also copied the entire range of flavours offered by Frankie’s, including cinnamon cola, which Frankie’s allegedly invented.
He said Woolworths had used Frankie’s slogan, creating confusion in the market.
Schmidt has referred the matter to the advertising regulator, which has closed for the holidays and will reopen on January 3.
Schmidt said yesterday that he had discovered in May that a supplier in the Western Cape was “cloning” Frankie’s drinks for Woolworths and served notice that he was aware of the plan. Both parties denied this when he confronted them.
Rylands also denied knowledge of the scheme yesterday.
Schmidt requested an introductory meeting with Woolworths in June.
Schmidt said he was surprised to learn later that Woolworths had a similar product in its stores.
“They clearly liked my style… why didn’t they just do a deal with Frankie’s? If this is them giving the young South African brand a chance, I’d rather do business with the Chinese,” he said.
Schmidt said that he was keeping all his legal options open and expected his costs to eventually amount to R500 000 as he was taking the best legal advice. He wants Woolworths to remove the product from its shelves.
Rylands said Schmidt had not exchanged intellectual property with Woolworths at the introductory meeting. “From our perspective we will continue to trade.”
Woolworths has maintained its innocence and said that the allegations were unfounded.
It said it launched the lifestyle drinks range in 2003, and expanded it in 2005.
The company also said that old-fashioned drinks were not a new concept and no one owned rights to flavours such as cream soda, ginger beer and cola, which were used by several soft drink manufacturers.
Rylands said the flavour cinnamon cola, which Frankie’s claimed it invented, had been in existence for more than a decade.
“If there’s anything we could have done differently we should have told him that our strategy is to be private label and we were going to be launching the drinks range,” added Rylands. - Asha Speckman