Cereal offender

I’m disappointed in supermarket giant Progressive’s challenge to the conviction and $17,000 fine it received for continuing to sell their own Signature Range cereal months after a competition to win trips to Australia had closed.

The reason it’s challenging the fine is that it apparently believes others let it down in not putting stickers onto the packaging so the competition was not visible. It also claimed that at least one supplier continued to use the original packaging in spite of being told to destroy it.

Progressive seem to feel they’ve been unfairly treated. Quite why baffles me. They failed to ensure those further down the chain did what was required of them which resulted in the prosecution. Rightly so, in my opinion. You’re only as strong as your weakest link and theirs definitely had chinks in it. However, it was entirely their responsibility and they cannot opt-out of being held accountable.

Progressive even continued to sell the cereals up to 3 months after the competition closed even though their own records showed they were aware of the misleading packaging. I personally think the fine is rather light, given this information. Shades of Ribena all over again.

I’m not surprised – an anagram of ‘Cereal Rip Off’ is ‘Crap Offer Lie’.