Lawsuit Against Tillamook for Deceptive Advertising Allowed to Proceed

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon Supreme Court issued a decision reviving the Animal Legal Defense Fund’s (ALDF) case against the Tillamook County Creamery Association and the lawsuit will proceed. The Oregon Supreme Court reversed the appellate court’s interpretation of the Unlawful Trade Practices Act, which would’ve required plaintiffs to plead and prove class reliance at the pleadings stage. ALDF, along with preeminent plaintiffs’ firms Sugerman Dahab, and Tim Quinelle, PC, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Oregon consumers in 2019, alleging that Tillamook misleads consumers as to the location, production practices, and treatment of cows who produce the milk Tillamook uses to make its cheese, ice cream, butter, and other dairy products.

Tillamook’s advertising is designed to tell consumers that the company’s products are sourced from pasture-based, small-scale family farms local to Tillamook County, Oregon, where consumers can envision animal care standards that exceed those of other dairy companies. However, this is far from reality.

The Tillamook County Creamery Association’s heavily advertised small family farms in Tillamook County represent just a tiny proportion of the company’s production. In reality, Tillamook sources up to 80 percent of its milk from the largest dairy operation in the U.S. Located in the desert of eastern Oregon, the facility that provides the majority of Tillamook’s milk keeps more than 70,000 cows, including 32,000 in active dairy production in inhumane, industrialized conditions. Tillamook sells dairy products nationwide under the “Tillamook” brand name.

While some of Tillamook’s ads encouraged consumers to “Say Goodbye to Big Food,” Tillamook is in fact the epitome of “Big Food.” Rather than living freely on the rolling green hills depicted in Tillamook advertising, the cows are artificially impregnated, have their calves ripped from them shortly after birth so the milk they produce can be sold to consumers, and are continuously confined and milked on robotic carousels at this cement-floored factory farm.

“Tillamook sells its dairy products by selling a fairy tale — that you can be a billion-dollar company and still source from small-scale farms where cows receive individualized care and access to pasture. This is completely at odds with the level and magnitude of suffering that takes place at industrialized dairy facilities,” says Amanda Howell, Managing Attorney at ALDF. “We look forward to litigating this case in court to prevent consumers from being misled about their purchasing decisions.”

The class-action lawsuit seeks to stop Tillamook’s deceptive advertising, which misleads consumers and violates multiple Oregon consumer protection laws.

As consumers become more aware of the cruelty in factory farming, demand grows for animal products produced in less abusive conditions. But some producers and retailers are advertising their products in ways designed to trick consumers into believing that their products are more “humane,” sometimes referred to as “humane-washing.” It is part of ALDF’s mission to stop this misleading, illegal conduct — to protect farmed animals and ensure that consumers can make choices based on truthful information.