Is it nit-picking or a reasonable consumer protection issue? Today, with obesity being a clear public health problem, the importance of calorie intake to the success of an individual weight loss program may be critical. It may not be surprising, therefore, that a consumer class-action claim has been filed in a federal district court in California against Anheuser-Busch for falsely advertising that one of its products is a low calorie beer.
The lawsuit claims that the company has deceptively advertised that the Budweiser brand Bud Light Lime-A-Rita is low in calories. The suit claims that it has more calories than any other Budweiser product. The court papers set forth the numbers of calories for each product, and allege that Lime-A-Rita has more calories than them all.
The suit alleges that the brewer was deceptive in concealing, omitting and misrepresenting the numbers of calories in the product. It seems self-evident that the smaller can of Bud Light Lime-A-Rama contains about 50 percent more calories than a regular can of Budweiser. It contains twice as many calories as a can of Bud Light.
Is the plaintiff, however, exaggerating a claim against the beer-maker under circumstances where the information on calories is presumably printed right on the can? Doesn't the consumer have a duty to seek out the truth and not rely on an ad that is for general consumption? The answers will come only when the court gets down to deciding the specific issues in the context of the actual evidence.
However, it may be argued that the plaintiff's assertions in this consumer class-action claim are reasonably well-stated. This may be particularly true based on prior holdings in food mislabeling cases. Deceptively false claims, for example, that a product is "all-natural," have supported California class-action claims even though the label revealed that the product contained chemicals or substances not considered natural. Therefore, it is arguably the law that where there is a material contradiction in the information presented to the consumer, the company is culpable and should be held responsible legally for that discrepancy.
Source: postcrescent.com, "Lawsuit filed against Bud Light Lime-A-Rita", Reg Wydeven, Jan. 25, 2015
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