Does a mango lemonade actually have to contain the designated fruit? This question should now be clarified in court. The coffee house chain Starbucks was unable to avert a corresponding class action lawsuit.
“Where’s the beef?” The 1980s advertising slogan used by a burger chain to denounce competitors’ product quality has become proverbial in North America to describe cases of lack of substance. “Where’s the mango?” won’t get that far, but it does shed light on the widespread practice by suppliers of replacing ingredients with flavors.
In the USA, the coffee house chain Starbucks is now facing complaints from consumers because some of its fruit drinks do not contain the main ingredient that gives it its name. The company’s motion to dismiss the majority of the class action lawsuit failed. After all, many consumers expected their drinks to actually contain the fruits mentioned in their names, explained District Judge John Cronan in Manhattan.
Mango lemonade without mango
Customers had complained, among other things, that there was no mango in Starbucks Mango Dragonfruit Lemonade and no passion fruit in Pineapple Passionfruit Lemonade. Plaintiffs Joan Kominis of New York and Jason McAllister of California said the main ingredients were water, grape juice concentrate and sugar. The names are misleading and have led to inflated prices. This violates consumer protection laws in their states. The plaintiffs are seeking damages of at least $5 million. Lawyer Robert Abiri said he looked forward to representing the group.
Starbucks, however, argued that the product names described the taste of the drinks and not their ingredients. The flavors are advertised on the drink menus. And if consumers had questions, employees could answer them.
ingredient or Taste description?
However, Judge Cronan explained that unlike the term “vanilla”, which has been the subject of many lawsuits, there is nothing to suggest that “mango” or “passion fruit” are terms that would normally be understood to mean only a flavor, without the ingredient as well actually contain.
In addition, there may well be confusion because other Starbucks products actually contain the ingredients mentioned in their names. The Ice Matcha Tea Latte actually contains matcha, and Honey Citrus Mint Tea contains honey and mint.