Vitamin Water sued for misleading consumers
Filed under: Food, Ripoffs and Scams
"It truly shocks the conscience that a company like Coke would try to keep customers by selling them a soft drink and telling them it's a vitamin," said Stephen Gardner, director of litigation for the group.
According to Reuters, Coke called the suit "ridiculous."
The Center for Science in the Public Interest may be on to something. Most people I know who drink Vitamin Water think that they're doing something that's healthy. But the reality is that Vitamin Water is loaded with sugar: An eight ounce serving has 13 grams of sugar, making it healthier than full-calorie soda, but only barely.
The issue is whether Vitamin Water is actually marketed deceptively. The label does warn that "These statements about Vitamin Water have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Vitamin Water is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease."
The marketing of the product as a healthful alternative seems to be mostly done by implication: The label was designed to remind people of vitamins, but it seems unlikely that there's anything illegal about that.
More likely, the CSPI is generating publicity to get its message across: Vitamin Water is not the healthy drink you might think it is. The group is known for its attention-getting studies, such as the time CSPI conducted its own test on Wendy's and Burger King french fries and found they were still fried in unsafe levels of trans fat even though the city had banned it.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
1-15-2009 @ 8:23PM
Ally said...
This is ridiculous! I'm sorry but I love Vitamin Water i practically drink it everyday. So it had sugar in it that because they are trying to hide the taste of the vitamins in the water. Trust me, vitamins are not really the best tasting thing by themselves. I'm drinking a Vitamin Water right now and it is so delicious!! Let me tell you a story. I got three kidney stones and my doctor told me to drink water but i hate water. So he told me it was alright to have Vitamin Water because it didn't have any sodium. Since then i never had another pain again. All i have to say is THANK YOU VITAMIN WATER!! =) I don't know what i would do without you.
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1-16-2009 @ 2:54PM
MacDaddy said...
wow-----cant live a day without it.You have issuessssssss !
1-16-2009 @ 3:54PM
jerry said...
ally
you need to ,like, get a life , we can , like , hear the air leaking out of your head
1-16-2009 @ 4:23PM
lex said...
You work for Coke, don't you?
1-16-2009 @ 4:17PM
Chris said...
If people aren't reading lables, they are not really interested in their health anyways. So, what if it has sugar? Coke didn't lie. It's on the label. Read the label.
And hey, if your not consuming large amounts of sugar, a vitamin water a day isn't going to kill you. No, it's not a great thing to drink, but neither is 99.9% of the drinks that all Americans drink, including most of the people on this discussion board.
1-16-2009 @ 5:22PM
Ashley said...
So then vitamin water is just flavored water with lots of sugar? I'm not getting it, why are people so pissed off when someone says they like vitamin water? I like it too! I drank some yesterday. There was a while where I was drinking it everyday, it doesnt mean I'm pathetic, it means I was thirsty. This law suit is ridiculous, diet pills stretch the truth too. It doesnt matter though, I'm more into grape juice and real water now. But I do seriously wonder, is vitamin water a replacement for water?
1-16-2009 @ 6:40PM
Cocktails for you said...
Goes great with vodka and a twist
1-20-2009 @ 1:40AM
stephani said...
Vitamin water is just kool-aid in a bottle, which is soda without the bubbles. Any way you look at it it isn't good to drink sugar. If you need vitamins the take a one-a-day. The worst thing is that you fools are paying over $1.00 a bottle for this kool-aid, with a vitamin in it. It is a huge mark up from plain old kool-aid and one-a-day. Go ahead and love it if you want, but don't be insisting to others that it is good for them. Don't come crying to us when you gain weight from drinking your 10 high sugar kool-aids a day, and when you have diabetes.
1-20-2009 @ 4:34AM
Buck said...
Ally,
Having been where you are (I'm 62 and diabetic), I drank regular Coke for DECADES. It was only after I started having health issues that I got checked for diabetes. Now, I only drink water. IF I have "milk", it's half-percent, because of my heart and diabetes.
I'm not making fun of you or criticizing your "choices". I'm just testifying to what happened to me. I've had to make some better choices if I'd like to see my grandchildren graduate college, get married and have children. That's my "choice" and responsibility to care for myself so I can do that. You have a "choice" as well. I hope you will re-evaluate your choice.
Respectfully submitted,
"Buck"
1-20-2009 @ 2:46PM
Notadrone said...
you are the problem with America!!! vitamines dont taste good???Really? thats your point?wow.Deep.go back to sleep. and keep supporting coke or mc donnalds i bet you love that too.i could go on forever but youll just say i just need some sugar:)
2-03-2009 @ 1:26AM
edav6 said...
there is some awesome info on this website about vitamins and what they can do for you! www.vdrinks.com i've been looking for a drink all over that is actually half way good for you! anyone found anything
1-15-2009 @ 11:08PM
Shayna said...
All I can say is Wow. Why are they blaming Coca-cola. All you have to do is read the percentages and know what it is you're ingesting (or am I the only one that still does that?) I love vitamin water, especially dragon fruit. I knew it was loaded with sugar when it came out. Anything that taste that sweet mostly likely has a lot of sweetner in it. I always get a chuckle out of these things. It's such a simple problem to fix, but they have to go and make a big deal out of it (publicity and whatnot). Great way to spend you're dwindling financial resources in such a tough economic time. And just for the record, tomorrow when I go to the gym the first thing I will buy is a Vitamin Water. =)
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1-15-2009 @ 11:26PM
steve said...
This suit makes no sense. Of COURSE there's sugar in Vitaminwater...it says so right on the label. That's why it tastes so much better than regular water. I also work out regularly and so can afford the sugar (along with the french fries and ice cream and other foods that are not considered healthy). THAT'S WHY I WORK OUT. This seems like a publicity stunt on the part of CSIP.
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1-16-2009 @ 9:14AM
Get Real said...
They are suing because it has too much sugar but people can drink coke with all that caffeine and sugar and that is ok???.....interesting.
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1-16-2009 @ 9:41AM
CalicoKitten said...
Vitamin Water has SUGAR in it?? Oy, who knew!!!
I am a diabetic, and I have to watch my intake of fruit and fruit juice because it is high in sugar. Orange juice -- serving 4 oz -- has something like 27 grams of sugar in it; cranberry and apple are significantly higher. Yet Vitamin Water has 13 grams of sugar in an 8 oz serving -- and it has more than Vitamin C in it, it has B vitamins, and some of it has Zinc (great during cold season) and Potassium in it as well.
So I most certainly drink Vitamin Water since I can have more of it than I can have of fruit juice for the same grams of sugar, I have a bottle of it every morning with breakfast instead of juice, and I have my Dad drinking it as well. At first he tried it just because it was in the house and looked interesting, now he just plain likes it, He is not diabetic, but watches his sugar (in part because I do all the shopping and cooking around here, LOL).
It's an obvious choice for me -- 4 oz of orange juice, or 20 oz of Vitamin Water....hmmmmmmmmm...I'll go for the whole bottle.
I have cleared this with my diabetes doctor, and he says the Vitamin Water is actually better for me since it has more than just Vitamin C in it. So I will continue to drink it.
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1-16-2009 @ 2:26PM
kerrry wenrich said...
what's the big deal pepsi has 41grams of sugar in it and that's still quite high
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1-16-2009 @ 2:31PM
Amanda said...
Okay, I think some of you are missing the point here. Coke is being sued because the label and advertising are perceived as deceptive to consumers, not because of the amount of sugar in the drink. However, the lawsuit is rediculous and takes away personal responsibility of the consumer. If you're so dumb you can't even read the ingredients and nutrition facts on the label, then you deserve to be duped. Nothing sweet and tasty will ever take the place of water and its benefits.
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1-16-2009 @ 7:05PM
Shirley said...
Just what does this Center for Science in the Public interest plan to do with their winnings? If it is monetary are they going to share it with the public that they have such an interest in protecting from the "Big Bad" Coke company? Hey, I have to agree with READING the LABELS! If you have trouble reading it or understanding it, ask someone to help you. Not everyone is up to par on ingredients. No reason to be ashamed. We can all use help now and then. Just read it before you ingest it. Make a good decision. Then the Center for Science in the Public interest won't have to sue anyone to protect you. LOL. This is as bad as suing for getting fat from eating fast food! Whose hand put that food in your mouth?! LOL.
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1-16-2009 @ 2:57PM
Diana said...
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is neither scientific nor interested in "the public interest." They are a bunch of hypocritical, sanctimonious bullies who use the courts to try to limit people's choices to only ones that they - the Supreme, Better-Than-You-Are Intelligencia - think you should have. The are anti-everything and feel that most of us are too stupid to tie our shoes and shouldn't be allowed to make our own decisions. I find them despicable and their tactics loathsome.
When some horrible catastrophe annihilates virtually all life on earth, only the cockraoches and the people from the Center for Science in the Public Interest will crawl out from under the rubble.
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1-16-2009 @ 8:31PM
Cassara said...
yes, they do nothing for the public interest....i forgot that that's why the government funds them......including the FDA, CDC, EPA......they don't do anything either, I'm sure....there are a lot of things that get funded by the government that I don't agree with, but that's not on the top of my list.....that's something like funding research junkets for congressmen, who can go anywhere they like, and stay in a five star hotel on our dime, without having to file reports of what they did....or the 2 swimming pools for congress, so the senators and the representatives don't have to jump in to the same pool....that would be a disgrace, right??