Posts Tagged ‘ Coke ’

Must See: Stephen Colbert Explains Vitamin Water Lawsuit!

January 18th, 2013. By AbiK

 

Remember the Coca-Cola Vitamin Water class action lawsuit? Well, it’s still out there—and there was even a copycat class action filed in Canada. But no one can quite shed light on the allegations involved in the Vitamin Water lawsuits quite the way Stephen Colbert can—so if you missed his show on Monday (1/14/13), check out the video above.

For an additional laugh, here’s what’s on Coke’s website—on their “Coca-Cola Journey” section—in response to the initial class action filing. Hard to believe this was written by someone old enough to have working papers. Read on—and no, it’s not a joke—this is really published on the Coke website:

The glacéau vitaminwater lawsuit is a ridiculous and ludicrous lawsuit. glacéau vitaminwater is a great tasting, hydrating beverage with essential vitamins and water, with labels showing calorie content.

Filing a lawsuit is an opportunistic PR stunt. This is not about protecting the public interest. This is about grandstanding at a time when CSPI is receiving very little attention. There is no surprise that one week before the inauguration of the U.S. President, with the flurry of activity in Washington, D.C., that CSPI has chosen today to try to bring attention to themselves.

We don’t need a “healthful” alternative to sodas. All our beverages, including sparkling and diets, can be part of healthful diet. Furthermore, consumers today are aware and are looking for more from their beverages than just hydration. Products like glacéau vitaminwater provide a great tasting choice for hydration that also helps contribute to daily needs for some essential nutrients.

Consumers can readily see the nutrition facts panels on every bottle of glacéau vitaminwater, which show what’s in our product and what’s not. The success of glacéau vitaminwater is due in large part to consumers looking for a product like this to help support their healthy, active and on-the-go lifestyle.

Put simply, glacéau vitaminwater is a great complement to our often less-than-perfect diet with each of the different glacéau vitaminwater varieties providing a convenient, great-tasting way to get more of some of the vitamins and hydration we all need each day.

No joke folks.

 

Tags: Class Action Lawsuit, Coca-Cola, Coke, Consumer Fraud, false advertising, Glaceau, Stephen Colbert, Vitamin Water, VitaminWater
Posted in Class Action, Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues, lawsuits | 2 Comments »

Ben & Jerry’s Agrees to Lose “All Natural” Claim; On to FRS…

September 30th, 2010. By LucyC

Those bastions of all that is good about ice cream—Ben & Jerry’s—had their wrists slapped recently over the inappropriate use of the phrase “All Natural”. And they, unlike some other companies I will mention, had the good sense to do something about the false claim. 

Apparently, there are about 48 of Ben & Jerry’s products that aren’t ‘All Natural’, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a nutrition and food safety watchdog group based in Washington, DC.  

In case you’re wondering just what the heck constitutes ‘natural’, information on the CSPI website states that “The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which regulates meat and poultry, lets products be labeled “natural” if they do not include artificial colors or ingredients, or are not more than “minimally processed,” by which the agency means a process that doesn’t fundamentally alter the raw ingredient. But the FDA, which regulates all other foods, has no such definition. It told CSPI several years ago that defining the term was “not among our enforcement priorities.” 

Of course the irony in this is that the sugar and cream in ice cream will likely cause more harm to your arteries—not to mention your teeth—than most of the “unnatural products” in Ben & Jerry’s ice creams and frozen yogurts, products including alkalized cocoa, corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. 

Nevertheless, Ben and Jerry’s, not wishing to tarnish their best of the best image, have agreed to phase out the use of “All Natural” claims on their labels. 

Oh, that all manufacturers were so obliging. Not so in the instance of FRS Healthy Energy Drink, a line of products sold by the FRS Company and distributed by PepsiCo. The product Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Ben & Jerry's, Coca-Cola, Coke, false advertising, FRS Energy Drink, VitaminWater
Posted in Consumer Fraud, Emerging Issues | No Comments »

Coca-Cola Shareholders Spurred by Conscience or Profit?

April 26th, 2010. By janem

Coca-Cola shareholders know if their coke glass is half-full or half-empty. By that comment I mean they are aware of public concern regarding the safety of Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical used in the epoxy lining of Coca-Cola’s canned beverages. Yet at the same time, if something isn’t done about it, sales could potentially drop and so would their dividends. So the shareholders voted last week on a measure that will force the company to go public on plans to rid their beverage cans of BPA.

The Coca-Cola company already eliminated BPA from their plastic bottles, but the plastic used to line aluminum cans still contains BPA. Did the company think this measure would satisfy their shareholders and the public, and they would get away with just a bit of BPA? Apparently not. Shareholders say the company has “failed to provide investors or consumers with sufficient evidence that it is taking steps to address these public health concerns”—and 22% of them voted for a resolution asking the company to publish a report on how it is responding to the “public policy challenges” related to BPA and what they’re doing to come up with alternatives for their beverage cans.

Meanwhile, as reported by Business Wire, Coca-Cola’s Board of Directors today approved the quarterly dividend of 44 cents per common share, up from 41 cents. Coca-cola returned $5.3 billion to shareowners in 2009, through $3.8 billion in dividends and $1.5 billion in share repurchases.

BPA is an endocrine disruptor that interrupts hormones and has been linked with breast cancer, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: BPA, Coca-Cola, Coke
Posted in Consumer Fraud, Defective Products | 3 Comments »