MillerCoors Sues Anheuser-Busch Over Super Bowl Ad
The Corn Syrup Wars have escalated as the controversy over last month's Super Bowl ad from Bud Light shaming Miller Lite and Coors Light for using corn syrup during its brewing process is headed to court.MillerCoors has filed a lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch InBev seeking an immediate halt to the campaign, which MillerCoors claims is false advertising meant to deceive customers and misuses the Miller and Coors trademarks.
"Anheuser-Busch is fearmongering over a common beer ingredient it uses in many of its own beers, as a fermentation aid that is not even present in the final product," said Marty Maloney, manager of media relations at MillerCoors, in a statement. "This deliberate deception is bad for the entire beer category. We are showing the world the truth."
MillerCoors seeks an injunction to stop Bud Light from continuing the ad campaign, and is asking for a trial by jury and for defendants to pay its legal fees. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported and posted the lawsuit, which was filed in a Wisconsin federal court.
MillerCoors alleges that Bud Light singled out its use of corn syrup because it found, using focus groups, that consumers do not understand the differences between corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup. The high-fructose version has been linked to obesity.
Source: Drovers