NGO cites gin market study

The largest Luzon-based consumer group recently lauded the disclosure made by industry leader Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (GSMI) of a study allegedly confirming that the local gin market "is going through a confusion phenomenon following the entry of a new gin product".

The findings were based on a study by leading Filipino market research expert Mercedes Abad. Abad said an extensive research done by her market research firm allegedly showed that Tanduay Distillers, Inc.’s (TDI) Ginebra Kapitan gin product is mistaken for a Ginebra San Miguel product, and that gin drinkers mistakenly believe the product is manufactured by Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (GSMI), San Miguel Corp. or La Tondeña.

In a statement, the Isabela-based Timpuyog Mannalon Amianan said the findings "will help consumers deal with the suspicion that the lower-bracket market is being subjected to manipulative branding ploys."

Consumer activist Melany Victoria, group spokesman, lamented the alleged confusion, saying it betrays "the exploitation of this market sector by big business interests."

The group earlier challenged the major gin manufacturers to disclose their respective market studies to the public, saying gin drinkers have a significant stake on the issue.

Victoria said "a confused market is not able to exercise wise and independent consumer choice." When a consumer buys a good mistakenly believed to be the product of a preferred manufacturer, the ideal of a free market is jeopardized, she pointed out.

The freedom of the market can be curtailed by misleading branding features and product designs because they trick consumers into making a purchase based on a false general impression – in this case, that the product comes from the better-known manufacturer, she explained.

Victoria said the phenomenon "is very apparent in the gin branding issue."

Consumers in a free market must be coaxed by merits and advantages, not by semblance and accented similarities, Victoria said. She lamented the "apparent presumption by brand designers that the gin market is highly susceptible to manipulation, for which reason they seem to have resorted to para-hypnotic visual ploys."

Victoria pointed out that the gin market study also disclosed that 82 percent of the respondents who were shown the back view of the Ginebra Kapitan bottle mistakenly identified it as ‘Ginebra’ ‘Ginebra San Miguel‚’ ‘San Miguel’ or ‘Ginebra blue’. None of them gave a competing product as an answer. Victoria observes that this indicates that from the shape of the bottle alone, a high degree of misassociation is already taking place and this can only be harmful to the consuming public.

Among those who saw the front view of the Kapitan bottle, 69 percent believed the product was made by ‘San Miguel‚’ ‘La Tondeña‚’ ‘Ginebra San Miguel’ or ‘Ginebra’.