After more than an hour waiting in line and for an eye-watering $150, Sydney influencer Elle Salagaras was under the impression she had finally scored a Crumbl cookie.
And technically, she did. It was the first time cookies from the popular bakery, based in the US with a viral following, had been sold in Australia.
But what Ms Salagaras and the dozens of others who purchased the cookies didn’t know was that their baked goods were five days old, purchased at a store in Hawaii by people unaffiliated with Crumbl Cookie (Crumbl), and flown back to Australia.
Ranging from Brownie Sundae to Pumpkin Cake, the cookies are usually sold for $US4.49 ($6.50) for a single cookie. The pop-up cookies were $17.50 each.
Organisers of the event, held in a trophy shop a short walk from Bondi Beach, say they “never claimed to be an official Crumbl store” and have insisted they are “passionate fans” not looking to make a profit.
Under Australian law, it is possible to sell imported goods, but it is illegal to misrepresent yourself as a brand if you are not affiliated with them.
While the organisers claim they did everything right, people like Ms Salagaras, who saw the branding and messaging “Crumbl is landing in Australia”, feel they were misled.
Advertising for the pop-up was launched last month by an account on TikTok named crumblcookiesyd, boasting the same pink branding as its namesake, advertised that a one-day pop-up for the company was coming to Sydney.
Organisers of the pop-up, who have chosen to keep their full names off social media, said they “did not use [Crumbl] trademarks” in their videos and that it’s legal to sell parallel imports in Australia.
A parallel import is an item that’s been imported into and sold in Australia where the reseller doesn’t have the explicit permission of those behind the product.
Parallel imports don’t infringe trademark law or Australian consumer law. But this also requires a reseller is not representing itself as those behind the product, or blatantly misleading the average consumer.
“If the business starts using different branding, and it uses the foreign company’s branding to suggest that it’s a retailer of these products, that might not be caught by the defence to trademark infringement,” said UNSW professor Michael Handler, whose work focuses on intellectual property law and copyright law.
“And that right extends to people using near-identical or deceptively similar [trademarks]”.
Promotional videos shared through the organiser’s TikTok page included the phrase “Crumbl cookies are landing” and “coming to Australia”.
The page also used content from the original Crumbl’s social media, while Crumbl’s branding was on signage at the pop-up.
Since the launch, those behind the pop-up have deleted all the videos off their TikTok and apologised.
“All the promotion leading up to the pop up was definitely pretending to be affiliated with the real Crumbl,” Ms Salagaras said.
In a statement, Crumbl indicated they would not be taking legal action against the organisers.
“While the pop-up in Australia was not sponsored by Crumbl, we love seeing excitement for Crumbl around the world,” it said.
Since Crumbl’s statement, the company has announced plans to open stores in Australia after being “amazed by the support of fans”.
“Crumbl has been inspired to accelerate plans to provide all dessert-loving Aussies, with a true Crumbl experience.”
Australia ripe for internet frenzy over popular brands
This isn’t the first time people in Australia have attempted to capitalise on a foreign brand’s viral presence.
Earlier this year, accounts and posts spread through TikTok falsely claimed that the US-based fried chicken brand Raising Cane’s was coming down under, some being viewed and shared thousands of times.
Raising Cane’s has never announced an Australian store or pop-up on any official channel.
“I think the fact that our market is small here, means that there’s a lot of things that never get here,” said Ellen Garbarino, a professor in marketing at the University of Sydney’s Business School.
According to Professor Garbarino, many international brands are unlikely to open permanent locations in Australia due to the required costs and expected return.
“The cost of setting that up is pretty high, to get it into the shelves or to get a retail outlet and pay rent and get customers and get staff and all those kinds of things, and get over the laws of a different country.”
But that lack of a presence from international brands can interact with a level of notoriety from the internet and pop culture to create a level of demand that can be capitalised on.
In recent years, the US-based burger chain In-N-Out has periodically launched one-day pop-ups across Australia, attracting crowds and online attention in the process.
“It’s sort of the perfect storm. People know about it. They want it. They get excited about the idea. They start craving it, and they start agitating to get it on the internet,” Professor Garbarino said.
While the official Crumbl has not announced any formal plans to expand to Australia, it said it “looks forward to expanding to other countries in the future”.
Organisers of the unofficial pop-up have conceded they won’t be doing another.
“We apologise,” they said in a statement.
“However they are just cookies at the end of the day.”
(Source: ABC Australia)
