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Coca-Cola Vitamin-enriched Soft Drink Pulled From Shelves Over Concerns it Misleads Customers
The Copenhagen Post
January 14, 2009
Two of the country's largest supermarket chains pulled a new Coca-Cola
vitamin-enriched product from their shelves yesterday and now the
American soft-drink manufacturer is hoping to change their minds.
COOP, which accounts for 37 percent of the grocery market, and Dansk
Supermarked, which holds a 30 percent share, pulled the product as
it clashed with company policies and was judged to mislead customers.
Coca-Cola Light Plus (also known as Diet Coke Plus) was introduced
to the Danish market on 5 January, but pulled from the shelves soon
after. It is marketed as a sugar-free soft drink, enriched with vitamins
B and C and minerals.
Jens Juul Nielsen, a spokesman for COOP Denmark, said it was against
company policy to sell an unhealthy food product as if it were healthy.
'We don't want to give the impression to the consumer that soft drinks
are a healthy thing.'
Coca-Cola Light Plus had been approved for sale on the Danish market
by food and drink authorities, but both retailers were worried about
selling vitamin-enriched soft drinks.
A spokesman for Dansk Supermarked told Bloomberg news agency that
vitamin-enriched products are very rare in Scandinavia and there is
'a fundamental scepticism against such products'.
The communications director for Coca-Cola Denmark, Mikael Bonde-Nielsen,
told The Copenhagen Post that the company is doing what it can to
re-introduce the product and is entering into dialogue with the two
companies.
'Market research showed it's a popular product and even niche products
are warranted in the market.'
Nielsen said today that COOP would be sticking to company policy and
Coca-Cola will 'not succeed in getting it re-introduced'.
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