Muscle Milk Lawsuit
The newest Muscle Milk lawsuit revolves around a little problem they have with The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureau! This governing body has referred advertising claims made by CytoSport Beverage Company for its Muscle Milk product to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for further review. This happened after CytoSport decided to not back down to an NAD challenge on their product Muscle Milk.
Meet The Challenger
The NAD requested that CytoSport provide substantiation for certain advertising claims, following a challenge by Nestle USA. Hmmm, the post gets suddenly more interesting now doesn’t it? Especially when you consider that back in 1985, Nestle acquired Carnation (makers of Carnation’s Instant Breakfast – pictured on left). Maybe Nestle saw the new Muscle Milk RTDs (which are being distributed by Pepsi) as a threat to their Instant Breakfast RTD business!?
The Claim
Nestle held that Muscle Milk, marketed as a “High Protein Chocolate Milk Shake” is a dietary supplement that is sold in grocery and convenience stores alongside milk and other consumer beverages. Nestle maintained that the claim “Muscle Milk” is false and misleading because it claims that the product contains actual milk when it does not and that consumers are likely to be misled into thinking that they’re buying a flavored or supplemented milk product, when in fact, the product is a water-based dietary supplement.
Cytosport Stance
Cytosport maintained that the claims for its product are truthful and non-misleading and that Muscle Milk, is a non-deceptive registered trademark. It advised NAD that because it believed NAD review was not appropriate or necessary, it would decline to participate in the NAD self-regulatory forum. As a result, NAD has referred the matter to the FTC and FDA.
