Frankies Fiery Ginger Beer Fury Reveals a Pattern of ‘Stealing’ MyZA

A row, led by Bruce Whitfield on Talk Radio 702′s The Money Show, has broken out over the alleged ‘stealing’ of the Frankies Good Old Fashioned Softdrinks concept and style of product by Woolworths. Whitfield interviewed Frankies owner Mike Schmidt after the appearance of a ‘Petition to Woolies to stop faking Frankies‘ that went live on Facebook early on Tuesday.

Mike Schmidt’s position is that after talking to Woolworths in June about the possibility of the retailer carrying Frankies range of product which includes such intriguing names as Fiery Ginger Beer, Original Cream Soda, Cinnamon Cola, Dandelion and Burdock, Cloudy Lemonade and Old Style Root Beer.

Apparently the retailer turned them down “politely”, citing that the Frankie’s range was out of character for them.

Pick ‘n Pay, Spar and Dischem already stock Frankie’s products. Schmidt says he’s already approached the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regarding the issue.

Of course Woolworths turned down the invitation to respond to the allegations live on air citing the reason that out of all of their 20 000 employees they ONLY had one person able to respond, who was unavailable.

They then followed up with a written response which was read out on radio the next day. See the end of this article for the interview with Mike Schmidt and the Woolies response.

That people feel they were ‘duped’ by Woolworths into thinking that their product was the Frankies original repackaged to resemble the Woolworths brand is quite clear from the callers to the The Money Show.

It is probably true to say that Woolworths will get away with their questionable ethics and riding on the accumulated brand goodwill of Frankies despite having ‘stolen’ ideas and brand goodwill from the Midlands based small business employing around 12 people. Maybe the row over who stole what can be settled by examining the words of Henry Ford who said this about the motor car; “I invented nothing new. I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work. Had I worked fifty or ten or even five years before, I would have failed. So it is with every new thing. Progress happens when all the factors that make for it are ready and then it is inevitable. To teach that a comparatively few men are responsible for the greatest forward steps of mankind is the worst sort of nonsense.”

The test then is to see if the Woolworths product is actually an IMPROVEMENT and represents significant PROGRESS on the Frankies range, if not then Frankies will prevail and should be thankful for all the FREE advertising they are getting.

But, one also needs to return and examine Woolworths past actions in order to discern a pattern of unethical and borderline criminal behaviour which, using the example of Port Elizabeth resident Rainer Schimp’s recent run in with Woolworths, is slowly emerging. (I could also moan and say that Woolworths, amongst others, also stole the ‘My’ concept from MyPE – MyPlanet, MyWeekend, MySchool etc. – but I realise that my pockets are not deep enough to fight that fight, although the power of my pen is growing in stature.)

Rainer had a Rhino Poaching video ‘stolen’ from him and used by Woolworths to promote their brand as one that cares whilst dipping deep into the pockets of the well heeled. At the time not even our local newspaper, that had recently crowned Rainer as an Environmental Citizen of the Year, would touch the story or investigate it. I suspect that it may have something to do with not upsetting a major advertiser but then I would be speculating so forget that I ever said that, OK?

The only publication willing to explore the allegations by Rainer was Noseweek who ran an article titled Turning rhinos into fast bucks in their issue number 145 of 1 November 2011. I, of course was quite chuffed as they quoted MyPE extensively along with an unpublished paragraph from an e-mail that was sent from my desk to Woolworths lawyers in an attempt to help settle the manner amicably. See the MyPE article: Did Woolworths ‘Poach’ Poaching Video?.

Below is what Noseweek published pertaining to MyPE’s role in the Video Poaching saga:

In the meantime, the Port Elizabeth community has come out in support of Schimpf. On 19 August a piece called “Did Woolworths ‘Poach’ Poaching video?” appeared on their site www.MyPE.co.za: “The delicate balancing act between showcasing the horrors of rhino poaching and the need to ‘shock’ people into sitting up and taking notice of the plight of rhinos in South Africa often leads people to trample over the rights of others in a misguided attempt to profit off of the situation… Trampling on the rights of legal copyright holders and hitching one’s respected brand to such an action is not what one would expect of retailers such as Woolworths or extreme adventurer, conservationist, Woolworths MyPlanet Ambassador and 50/50 presenter Braam Malherbe – both of whom can boast of long experience with creative people and their rights over copyrighted content…”

A short while later, owner of the MyPE site, Alan Straton, sent an email to Adams Adams: “A tip: often one can defuse such a situation at the start by immediately engaging in a friendly manner. More often than not this will turn into a PR coup rather than a bit of a disaster, ie this can still turn out well for all involved.”

Read the entire Noseweek article online here: Turning rhinos into fast bucks – the amounts quoted are astonishing.

If a similar thing had to happen between two schoolchildren as has happened between Frankies, Schimpf and (no surprise here) Woolworths then we know what remedial action would follow – the kids would pop around to the back of the squash courts or bicycle sheds and have a good old bout of fisticuffs to sort their differences out. BUT, in this new age pissing contest the one with the largest pack of liars on retainer is the always the one that wins no matter the moral or ethical poverty displayed.