In February of this year, the UK Supreme Court unanimously ruled against Oatly in its long-running legal dispute with the UK dairy lobby. This disappointing decision means that Oatly’s popular slogan, "Post Milk Generation," can no longer be used on their plant-based products.
The court’s decision leaned heavily on EU-derived regulations designed to ‘protect’ dairy terms like "milk," "cheese," and "butter," ensuring they can only be used for animal-derived products. Oatly argued that their slogan simply stated a clear characteristic, being that the drink contains no dairy, the judges rejected this, instead calling it phrase "oblique and obscure." They claimed it could confuse consumers into thinking the drink contains low amounts of milk, rather than being entirely dairy-free.
It is disheartening to see the Supreme Court have heavily favoured cruel animal agriculture under the guise of "preventing confusion." Consumers choosing oat or soya drinks are not confused, rather they are making conscious choices for their health, the planet and its inhabitants. Besides, which would be worse; mistakenly consuming a product from plants, or blindly continuing to guzzle bovine breast secretions from a mammal who lived an agonising existence?
Fortunately, there is a silver lining; the Supreme Court’s ruling does not apply to ‘meat-free’ products. This means that our favourite plant-based staples, like ‘veggie burgers’ and ‘vegan sausages’, can remain as they are. The best thing we can do is continue to support Oatly and other compassionate, sustainable companies whilst promoting the change to plant based alternatives to others. How better to respond to an unethical ruling which favours the dairy industry than to stop supporting them altogether?In February of this year, the UK Supreme Court has unanimously ruled against Oatly in its long-running legal dispute with the UK dairy lobby. This disappointing decision means that Oatly’s popular slogan, "Post Milk Generation," can no longer be used on their plant-based products.