Silk Soymilk Confusion

On the 10th, I wrote about Silk Soymilk's label change and how it was causing some confusion. The existing Silk label, which for years has carried a USDA Organic certification, now reads "Silk Soymilk Natural" and the contents are no longer organic. If you want organic Silk, you need to look for the new green cartons which are being sold on adjacent shelves to the natural version.

According to the email I received from WhiteWave, this changeover began back in January. And yet, three months later, some retailers have not changed their shelf labels. Some stores aren't even carrying the new "organic" variety of Silk, but have kept their shelf banners advertising the "natural" variety falsely as "organic" (the photo at right was taken on 11 April 2009 at a local supermarket. They carry Silk Soymilk Natural, but not Silk Soymilk Organic. The signage all identifies Silk as "organic" in this store.) Until retailers get on board with Dean Foods' product shift, there is going to be more confusion - and it won't surprise me if there was some backlash against this kind of borderline-deceptive marketing.

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