British trade body Portman Group has announced that French wines and spirits firm Pernod Ricard has failed to meet the alcohol marketing rules.
The company is said to have failed to communicate the alcoholic nature of its Pernod spirit with absolute clarity.
According to the Independent Complaints Panel, the front label on the spirit bottle featured the alcohol by volume statement, but the text color meant that the statement was not legible as it did not stand out.
Pernod Ricard has mentioned the words including 'spirit' and 'distillation' on the back label. However, the panel has discovered that the back label does not give a clear explanation of the nature of the product.
In addition, the company has used French text 'spiritueux anise' on the rear of the packaging to describe the alcoholic nature of the product which is not sufficient for the UK consumers to understand.
Independent Complaints Panel secretary Panel Henry Ashworth said, "It is important that the alcoholic nature of a product is communicated with absolute clarity for consumers and this ruling shows that producers cannot rely on the brand name to convey this, but must consider all aspects of the label to ensure this is being achieved."
A Retailer Alert Bulletin (RAB) has been issued to notify the retailers not to order Pernod in the mentioned packaging after 12 September 2014.
