Aldi – an acknowledged price leader in the US supermarket world – is usually spoken of in sterling terms as ‘one to beat’ for discounts on grocery items folks consider staples and buy regularly. But now, Aldi is being accused of product packaging piracy…
The Aldi OREO clone: If you were in a hurry, would you notice
the difference? Or just grab the clone, which bears a very
close resemblance to the legit OREO package?
But it seems the Walmart-like discounter, known for its clones of famous brands, has been accused preciously of copying the packaging designs of more-famous competitors…
Glance-and-grab…
Mondelēz International owns market-dominating brands such as OREO, Chips Ahoy! and Wheat Thins. It’s launched a massive lawsuit claiming Aldi, “blatantly copies and trades upon the valuable repu-tation and goodwill” Mondelēz has laboured over the years to maintain in it’s flagship brands.
The suit alleges Aldi, “seeks to ride the coattails,” of Mondelēz’s reputation, copying key aspects of the bigger company’s packaging, “in order to benefit from [their] power of attraction, fame and/or prestige.” This, Mondelēz charges, could not only constitute copyright infringement but would “threaten to irreparably harm Mondelēz and its valuable brands.”
Core argument
Mondelēz’s core argument – that consumers could be confused or even outright bamboozled – by Aldi’s ‘very similar’ packaging is supported by a study by Shorr Packaging in 2020 that confirmed packaging was important for seven out of 10 individuals. And parallel 2018 Ipsos study revealed 72 percent of consumers said packaging design often influenced their purchase decisions.
Makers of popular consumer consumer products – particularly snacks – have long spent a lot of time and invested a lot of cash to develop unique, distinctive shelf ‘looks’ for their top brands for this very reason.
Reasonable effort
Mondelēz will say, in court, that it has made a reasonable effort to make Aldi aware of the alleged ‘brand piracy’, and has repeatedly asked Aldi to ‘cease and desist’. But Aldi has not done so. As a result, Mondelēz is seeking damages and a permanent injunction to block Aldi from using the dis-puted packaging for its competing products.
A Fooddive.com story notes that, “Aldi has faced other lawsuits over its packaging before. Earlier this year, a United Kingdom appeals court upheld a ruling that Aldi’s cloudy lemon cider infringed on Thatchers’ Cider’s trademark. At the end of 2024, an Australian court found Aldi liable for infringing the packaging of three products from Hampden Holdings.”
A classic example
OREO’s sports one of the most recognisable packaging designs in the snacks industry. Key attributes of the product’s label include, ‘the prominent display of a tilted cookie, the blue background on the packaging and a lighter blue halo around the cookie.” Also has copied all these ‘visual cues’ almost exactly.
Given that OREO is an ultra-valuable brand, which generates more than (US)$4 billion in annual sales for Mondelēz, it’s surprising that the latter has sued.
My take
When you look at how close the Aldi ‘copy-cat’ packaging designs are to the ‘official’ Mondelēz packaging for the products in question, you’ll understand why Mondelēz is concerned.
It strikes me that Aldi has been pushing the envelope, seeing how far it can go, before Mondelēz says, ‘Enough!’ and files suit. I’m betting that this lawsuit – which is by no means without precedent – will be settled quietly before it reaches court…
Talk about poking the bear!
~ Maggie J.