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Posted on Thursday, November 13th, 2014 by Michele Simon
Negative media coverage of Big Mayo lawsuit goes viral in case study of PR blunder
All of these images were used in recent media stories of Big Mayo lawsuit
Business schools love a good case study, especially when a big corporation blows it. Now they can add Unilever’s colossal public relations mistake to their list. Wall Street Journal tech columnist Christopher Mims summed it up with this tweet: “Giant Corporation Generates Huge Quantities of Free Advertising and Brand Equity For Tiny Rival by Suing It”.
As I predicted earlier this week in my post about the maker of Hellmann’s suing start-up Hampton Creek over egg-free mayonnaise, the press and social media firestorm in just the past few days has already given Unilever a black eye, while the Just Mayo brand enjoys free positive PR. Almost all of the stories (of more than 200) I saw online were in Hampton Creek’s favor, framing the lawsuit as a classic David versus Goliath fight, at times mocking Unilever.
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Posted in Big Food, Industry Tactics | Tagged: Hampton Creek, Unilever | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (19)
Posted on Sunday, November 9th, 2014 by Michele Simon
Food Giant Unilever suing Hampton Creek for daring to offer a cruelty-free and sustainable alternative, whining that: “Just Mayo already is stealing market share from Hellmann’s”
Business school pop quiz: What’s a $60 billion global behemoth to do when a San Francisco start-up cuts into their profits? If answers like “innovate your products” or “hire a better marketing team” come to mind, you must not work at Unilever. That company’s response to competition is to take them to court. Unilever owns many top food brands such as Best Foods (and is also the largest deodorant maker in the world). The company is suing Hampton Creek for unfair business practices and false advertising, claiming their plant-based product called Just Mayo is deceptive to consumers because it doesn’t contain eggs. Actually that’s the whole point: to not use eggs.
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Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Uncategorized | Tagged: FDA, Unilever, Vegan | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (86)
Posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2014 by Michele Simon
Voter initiatives in California, Oregon and Colorado illustrate what’s at stake in the food wars
On Nov. 4, voters in three Western states will decide four food-related ballot measures that seem to have little in common: The two state-level measures (in Oregon and Colorado) would require genetically engineered (aka GMO) foods to be labeled as such, and two local initiatives in California (in San Francisco and Berkeley) would place a small tax on sugary soft drinks. But they do have something in common. A large portion of the opposition for all four measures is being funded by two megacorporations: Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. Moreover, the opposition is using many of the same tactics. Read rest at Al Jazeera America …
Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Industry Tactics | Tagged: Big Soda, GMO labeling, GMOs, soda taxes | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0)
Posted on Thursday, October 30th, 2014 by Michele Simon
As a lawyer who has called out plenty of transgressions by unethical food companies, it’s frustrating when the law gets it wrong. That’s exactly what happened to the alternative meat company Field Roast, based in Seattle, but also selling products to our neighbors to the north. That is, until the Canadian government informed Field Roast that the company’s products were mislabeled. Not only that, the products also had to be tested — wait for it — on live animals.
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Posted in Food Policy, Uncategorized | Tagged: Canada, Export, vegetarian | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (29)
Posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2014 by Michele Simon
The natural products business is booming. By some industry estimates, retail sales topped an eye-popping $100 billion last year, with nearly 60 percent coming from food. No wonder more food marketers are labeling their products — from Pepsi to Cheetos — natural. But what does the term actually mean?
Despite the term’s popularity — or because of it — there is no official definition of “natural.” With the potential to deceive consumers, the issue is now reaching a breaking point. The proposed solutions from trade groups, lawyers and government agencies range from defining the term to suing over it to ignoring it. Some consumer-advocacy organizations are even calling for a complete ban on the use of “natural” in labeling. But such disparate approaches won’t help shoppers become any less confused and may even make the problem worse.
Read rest at Al Jazeera America ….
Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Industry Tactics | Tagged: advertising regulation, FDA, GMO labeling, GMOs, junk food, trade groups, voluntary self-regulation | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0)
Posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2014 by Michele Simon
These days health-conscious consumers are increasingly seeking out food products not only with fewer ingredients and a “clean label”, but also foods produced in a manner that minimizes harm to the environment, among other ethical business practices. And it’s not enough to claim your product is healthy or sustainable with just words; to get that much-needed boost in a highly competitive marketplace, many food companies are spending the extra money to obtain third-party certification for various claims.
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Posted in Food Law, Food Policy | Tagged: FDA, GMO labeling, GMOs, USDA | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0)
Posted on Friday, October 17th, 2014 by Michele Simon
With far too much to regulate and too few resources, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has to be selective in enforcing deceptive marketing laws. Similarly, the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees all advertising, can’t police everybody. But while the feds have better things to do than troll the supermarket aisles looking for the latest dubious health claim, that doesn’t mean food marketers can get sloppy.
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Posted in Food Law, Food Policy, Industry Tactics | | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0)
Posted on Monday, September 22nd, 2014 by Michele Simon
By becoming benefit corporations, they can pursue social responsibility, not just the bottom line
In a marketplace full of greenwashing, I often scoff at the various certification programs that allow for-profit businesses to promote themselves as being sustainable or otherwise socially responsible. But a closer look at a certification dubbed B Corp suggests real promise. Companies with B Corp certification meet certain public benefit standards. The private certification is offered by a nonprofit called B Lab, which uses a point system to assess companies in the areas of governance, workers, community and the environment. Businesses that gain the certification can place the B Corp logo on its marketing materials — like the Fair Trade label for coffee. Read rest at Al Jazeera America …
Posted in Food Policy | | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0)
Posted on Tuesday, September 9th, 2014 by Michele Simon
Food and Beverage Marketing: Beyond Compliance
Over the past 18 years as a lawyer and public health advocate, I have scrutinized the ways that food companies use misleading or illegal marketing to unfairly influence consumers. I will continue to call out these deceptive practices as long as the industry continues to use them.
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Posted in Food Law, Food Policy | Tagged: FDA, USDA, voluntary self-regulation | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0)
Posted on Monday, August 18th, 2014 by Michele Simon
As I wrote in June, a bitter fight erupted in Washington, D.C., when the School Nutrition Association (SNA) — representing the nation’s 55,000 school food professionals — decided to oppose nutrition improvements to federally subsidized school meals, claiming that districts face insurmountable challenges from too many changes happening too quickly. Michelle Obama has made the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 one of her top causes and she is pulling no punches defending the new rules, which require schools to serve lower-sodium and lower-fat meals with more whole grains and fruit and vegetable servings. The result is an unfortunate standoff between the White House and the SNA’s current leadership. Read rest at Al Jazeera America ....
Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Industry Tactics, Marketing to Children | | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0)
