False Advertising Claims in Consumer Beverages Market

In this matter involving two makers of packaged consumer beverages, plaintiffs alleged that the defendants had misled consumers about the health benefits of its competing product, noting discrepancies between ingredients listed on the label of the defendants' products and the health benefits communicated to their consumers through advertising. Counsel for the defendants retained a team from Analysis Group to support academic affiliate and New York University marketing professor Joel Steckel in designing and implementing a consumer survey and evaluating the results related to the false advertising claims. The objective of the survey was to assess whether consumers were confused with regard to information presented on the front and back labels of the products challenged in the litigation. Professor Steckel used a stimulus-control group design to assess the causal relationship between the label and the degree of alleged confusion among consumers, as well as the influence of the label on purchase intent.