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<h1>Sri Lankans boycott Anchor butter after Fonterra refuses to include Tamil language on packaging
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<span>JOHN ANTHONY</span>
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Last updated 16:14, September 14 2018</span>
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<ul class="gmail-social-bar"><li><br></li><li><br></li><li><br></li><li><br></li><li><a class="gmail-social-bar__button gmail-social-bar__button--comments gmail-js-gigya-comments"><span>58</span></a></li></ul>
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<img alt="Anchor butter sold in Sri Lanka includes English, Mandarin and Sinhala but not Tamil on its packaging." title="" src="https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/r/r/f/2/j/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1rr6zk.png/1536898502045.jpg" class="gmail-photoborder">
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<p>Anchor butter sold in Sri Lanka includes English, Mandarin and Sinhala but not Tamil on its packaging.</p>
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<p>Sri Lankans are being told to boycott Anchor butter because it does
not include one of the country's official languages on its packaging.</p><p>Fonterra
has been selling dairy products into Sri Lanka for 40 years but the New
Zealand co-operative has found itself at the centre of a political
firestorm for its decision to not include Tamil on its Anchor butter
packaging.</p><p>Anchor is the number one dairy brand in Sri Lanka and Fonterra's products are sold in more than 100,000 stores nation wide.</p><p>But
its reputation with Sri Lankans is taking a hammering after the Sri
Lankan Government minister responsible for protecting the country's
languages called on the public to boycott Anchor butter.</p><p><strong>READ MORE:<br> * <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/107027100/fonterra-loss-of-196m-its-first-ever-loss?rm=m" title="">Fonterra loss of $196m its first ever, Spierings gets $8m farewell pay</a><br> * <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/91112747/sri-lankan-elephant-bound-for-auckland-?rm=m" target="_blank">Protest stops Sri Lankan elephant bound for Auckland Zoo from flying</a></strong></p><p>On
Tuesday Official Languages Minister Mano Ganesan called on Sri Lankans
to spread the boycott message across social media and told Sri Lankan
news organisation <em>The Morning</em> the Commissioner of Official Languages was investigating the matter.</p><p>He
also told the publication that Fonterra was in violation of Sri Lanka's
National Language Policy by having information in English and Sinhalese
but not Tamil.</p><p>Sinhala and Tamil are both official and national languages in Sri Lanka while English is the link language.</p>
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<img alt="Sri Lankan Official Languages Minister Mano Ganesan has reportedly launched an investigation into Fonterra not including ..." title="" src="https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/r/r/d/0/4/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1rr6zk.png/1536898502045.jpg" class="gmail-photoborder">
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<p>Sri Lankan Official Languages Minister Mano Ganesan has
reportedly launched an investigation into Fonterra not including Tamil
on its Anchor butter.</p>
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<p>Anchor butter sold in Sri Lanka includes information printed only in English, Sinhalese, and Mandarin.</p><p>Fonterra
spokeswoman Philippa Norman said Sri Lankan regulations required the
name of the product to be in any two of the three languages.</p><div class="gmail-display-ad gmail-story_body_advert"><div id="gmail-storybody__container">
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<p>"As English is already on the packaging, we selected to include
Sinhala on our packaging as it is the most widely spoken language in Sri
Lanka," Norman said.</p><p>Fonterra had not been contacted by the Sri Lankan Government about the matter, she said.</p><p>"We have not breached any regulations."</p><p>Some of Fonterra's products like butter, were made in New Zealand and then exported around the world, she said.</p>
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<img alt="Anchor butter is sold in more than 100,000 stores across Sri Lanka." title="" src="https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/l/o/x/f/d/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1rr6zk.png/1536898502045.jpg" class="gmail-photoborder">
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<span class="gmail-photocredittext">NEVILLE MARRINER/STUFF</span>
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<p>Anchor butter is sold in more than 100,000 stores across Sri Lanka.</p>
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<p>The same Anchor butter pack that was sold in Sri Lanka was also
exported to several other countries in the region, including China,
Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.</p><p>"We ensure that we are compliant with the regulatory requirements of each of these countries," Norman said.</p><p>Fonterra used Tamil, English and Sinhala on most of its other products packed and sold in Sri Lanka, she said.</p><p>Sri
Lanka, a nation of more than 20 million people, is a long standing and
key market for Fonterra. Every day it collects more than 35,000 litres
of milk from Sri Lankan farmers and just last year it opened an
innovation hub there.</p><p>Most Sri Lankans are familiar with Anchor
and its distinctive logo, which is featured on billboards and signage in
markets across the country. The brand commands more than 60 per cent
market share.</p><div style="margin-bottom:10px">
</div><p>University of Auckland business school associate professor
Gehan Gunasekara said he could see why Tamil people would be upset by
Fonterra's decision not to include their language on its butter.</p><p>"That could cause some Tamil people to be offended," Gunasekara said.</p><p>Gunasekara said he visited Sri Lanka recently and was surprised how prevalent Anchor branding was.</p><p>"You can't go 100 metres without seeing the Anchor brand."</p><p>He
said it was not really legal a matter but rather a marketing blunder
from Fonterra, and a public relations exercise for the Sri Lankan
politician Ganesan.</p><p>"The minister is obviously trying to get some political capital."</p><p>This is not the first time Fonterra has run into controversy in Sri Lanka.</p><p>In 2013 <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/dairy/9030054/Fonterras-behaviour-top-news-in-Sri-Lanka" target="_blank">Sri Lanka ordered a recall of two batches of milk powder</a> over a possible contamination by dicyandiamide (DCD), a chemical that has been used on pasture to control nitrogen loss.</p><p>Fonterra disputed the test results and said no traces of the agricultural chemical were found in more than 200 tests.</p><p>The following year <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/10584883/Sri-Lanka-suspends-Fonterra-sales" target="_blank">Sri Lanka suspended the sale of some Anchor milk powder</a>
over food-safety fears following a complaint of food poisoning in some
children in the southern village of Girandurukotte, 224 kilometres from
the capital Colombo.</p><p>Testing later cleared the product as being safe to consume.</p><div style="margin-left:40px">
<br clear="all"></div><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>