Oatly is NOT milk! Trade body for Britain’s dairy industry wins legal battle as judge rules firm behind the vegan drink can’t call itself that in any marketing

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14160323/Oatly-NOT-milk-Trade-body-Britains-dairy-industry-wins-legal-battle-judge-rules-firm-vegan-drink-call-marketing.html

    Posted by ParkedUpWithCoffee

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    27 Comments

    1. It should start branding itself “nilk” just to wind them up.

      If anyone asks, it’s a portmanteau of “not milk” and thus in full compliance with their wishes.

    2. Express-Doughnut-562 on

      Oatly are going to dine out on this and use it to their advantage big time.

      Looking forward to it to be honest.

    3. Spirited_Ordinary_24 on

      This is dumb, I don’t drink the stuff personally (my partner does) but no one is going to confuse it for real milk and it’s used as a substitute. As far as milk alternatives it’s probably one of the best because it doesn’t have as strong flavour compared to soy or almond milk and goes well in a latte

    4. No consumer has ever bought oat milk thinking it’s bovine mammary fluid but there you go.

    5. Remote_Associate1705 on

      Is this the same dairy industry that markets the milk being sold as healthy? Gotcha.

    6. That seems ridiculous. You can ‘milk’ anything. Milk doesn’t just comes ftom dairy animals.

    7. I thought this was old news? They’ve been calling themselves an “oat drink” for as long as I can remember

    8. OwlCaptainCosmic on

      Given that we’ve been calling the milk of a coconut it’s “milk” for thousands of years, perhaps this isn’t really a fair ruling.

    9. Do oat drinks even call themselves oat milk? I’ve got a few brands in the fridge and neither Moma or Aldis have milk on the packaging

    10. I’m not vegan and I bloody love dairy, but I have never bought a vegan alternative by mistake. This is petty protectionism at its worst.

    11. They might not be able to call themselves milk, but I don’t think anyone asking for it instead of dairy is going to call it anything other than oat milk, so really what was the point?

    12. BobBobBobBobBobDave on

      I think this is a bit bullshit, tbh.

      The term “milk” is regularly used for things which aren’t actually dairy, E. G. Coconut milk, beauty products, etc. And I don’t think it is likely that anyone could mistake Oatly for dairy milk, as the packaging is very clear.

    13. Hairy-gloryhole on

      A favorable ruling for a dairy industry just in time for a major scandal that might impact their sales and pr? What a coincidence! /s

    14. Muffinlessandangry on

      Damn straight! Also peanut butter and cocoa butter aren’t butter, butter milk is neither milk nor butter, and coconut milk doesn’t come from coconut nipples!Glamorgan sausages aren’t sausage, and dragon sausages have no dragon in them (the Welsh have a lot to answer for in the sausage aisle), swedes are definitely false advertising as they’re not Scandinavian in the slightest, the shepherds pie has zero shepherd in it (apparently it’s lamb? That’s like the opposite of a shepherd) but im assuming cottage pies still have bits of masonry in them so we’re good on that front.

      It’s high time the advertisment standards took into account the fact that we’re all idiots and unable to understand the mutable nature of language and inability to cope with new things.

    15. Accuracy is so important. Cow milk should have an easy to understand explainer of the process required to make cows lactate (I love dairy FWIW)

    16. Farmers have become quite uppity about stupid things recently. The denial of their stupidity back in 2016 however remains a mystery.

    17. I’ve been noticing all alternative “milks” have slowly started calling themselves _drinks_.

      This explains it. 

      Absurd.

    18. Serplantprotector on

      Meanwhile Smug is made from cow milk and oat milk, but it’s still totally real milk and is called that in marketing.

      Oatly should target that brand since it’s also not real milk.

    19. According_Parfait680 on

      Funny how these dairy farmers are too impoverished to pay inheritance tax on their multimillion pound properties but can club together to fight expensive legal cases and fund lobby groups.

    20. DjurasStakeDriver on

      This is pathetic. And reeks of desperation from the dairy industry to discredit oat milk as more and more people turn to dairy alternatives that are far better for both our health and the environment. 

      If we are going to talk about false advertising, the dairy industry should stop pretending that dairy cows are in any way treated well, or happy. They are forcefully inseminated and their calves are taken from them at birth. 

    21. Sea-Measurement6757 on

      “Soy milk” has been around since 25-225AD. Europeans were calling it milk in the 17th century. Dairy doesn’t “own” the word milk

    22. willcodefordonuts on

      Honestly this is so helpful and I welcome this ruling. I’ve been buying oat milk and soy milk for years – we even ask for it if we go to a cafe.

      I had absolutely no idea it wasn’t real milk? I thought oat and soy were like artisanal breeds of cow or something like that?

      Also my local milk man will deliver this oat “milk” do you think I could sue for false advertising?