FCCPC Hits Coca-Cola, NBC with Final Warning For Misleading Product Labelling

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has issued a regulatory warning to Coca-Cola Nigeria Ltd and the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) for misleading trade descriptions and unfair marketing tactics. According to an official statement on Thursday, the commission found the companies violating Sections 116 and 124(1) of the Commission’s Act.

The two products in question are “Original Taste and Less Sugar” and “Classic/Original Taste”. FCCPC said they were formulated differently, but the companies had misled consumers into believing the two products were identical.

“By December 2020, the Commission was convinced based on the evidence, that Coca-Cola and NBC on multiple occasions, and counts violated, and remained in violation of the FCCPA, particularly with respect to transparency, and clear disclosure obligations to their product patrons, intentional communications in describing their Coca-Cola “Original Taste, Less Sugar “variant as one and the same, as well as unchanged, when in actual fact, same had indeed changed, was different. formulated and not the same as their otherwise “classic, or “Original Taste”, the statement partly read.

The commission noted that Coca-Cola and NBC initially sought to end the investigation by adopting more explicit product descriptions. However, on the eve of the agreed timeline, the companies abandoned the mutually agreed outcome and adopted a different business strategy that failed to meet the applicable standards.

Despite multiple engagements with the companies and their legal representatives, FCCPC found that Coca-Cola and NBC’s efforts to differentiate the products remained ineffective. The commission stated that the companies acted intentionally by misrepresenting ‘Original Taste, Less Sugar’ as ‘Original Taste’ in a deliberate business strategy.

FCCPC also stated that NBC used identical packaging for Zero Sugar and 50:50 variants of the Limca Lime-Lemon flavoured drink, misleading consumers and violating various sections of the FCCPA and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control Act 2004.

The investigation began in 2019 and has now culminated in the FCCPC issuing its final order against Coca-Cola and NBC. The commission has said it will determine the appropriate penalties for the companies in the near future.

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