A man at a local supermarket has told a 17-year-old cashier that he would “never buy Fonterra milk,” particularly after this week’s contamination scandal, and said that this is why he’s made the conscious decision as a consumer to purchase Anchor milk instead.
The man, 29-year-old Brandon Gray, said he was “pretty savvy” when it came to selecting his products, and he wouldn’t let Fonterra’s domination of the dairy industry prevent him from expressing his disapproval of their operations.
“I really, really don’t like the way Fonterra have handled things this week,” Gray told the cashier. “You know, some days, I would consider buying the Fonterra milk, but not today.”
“Instead I’m going with this: Anchor,” he said, holding up the bottle so the cashier could see.
Gray said the great thing about being a consumer in a capitalist society was that you had the ability to choose and the information with which to do so.
He recalled the time he’d had a negative experience trying to buy a laptop from electronics store Noel Leeming, at which time he decided to punish them by purchasing a laptop from Bond and Bond instead.
Gray said it “felt good” to “stick it to a big company like that.”
Other consumers wary of this week’s contamination scandal have reported having trouble finding the Fonterra brand.