Nutella VS POM Wonderful
Verdict DROP IT DROP IT
The Reality Plaintiffs, including a mother who fed the product to her 4-year-old daughter based on the balanced-breakfast messaging, sued after discovering each serving contained 21 grams of sugar, 200 calories, and 11 grams of fat (3.5 grams saturated). Ferrero settled the resulting class action for $3 million in 2012, agreeing to pay consumers $4 per jar (up to 5 jars each), remove the 'balanced breakfast' phrase from the back label entirely, replace it with 'Turn a balanced breakfast into a tasty one,' and submit future commercials for plaintiff approval before airing. An FTC Administrative Law Judge ruled that expert testimony showed insufficient competent and reliable scientific evidence to support these disease-related claims, and the full FTC Commission subsequently found POM had made deceptive claims across 36 separate advertisements and promotional materials. The FTC's Final Order barred POM from claiming any product treats or prevents disease unless backed by two randomized, well-controlled human clinical trials. POM appealed, but the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the FTC's decision in January 2015, and the US Supreme Court declined to review the case in 2016, letting the ruling against POM stand as final.
SHORT ANSWER
Nutella: Ferrero paid $3 million in 2012 to settle a class-action lawsuit and removed the phrase 'balanced breakfast' from Nutella's labeling after plaintiffs pointed out a single serving carries 21 grams of sugar, 200 calories, and 11 grams of fat.
POM Wonderful: POM Wonderful's claims that its pomegranate juice treats or prevents heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction were found deceptive by the FTC, upheld by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2015, and left standing after the Supreme Court declined to review the case in 2016.