News
Sara Lee files lawsuit against Kraft Foods in hot dog tiff
Sara Lee has announced the filing of a lawsuit against Kraft Foods over claims in a series of advertisements that compares Kraft’s Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef Franks with Sara Lee’s Ball Park branded franks.
According to MeatingPLace.com, the suit claims Oscar Mayer is presenting a ‘taste superiority’ claim against the entire line of Ball Park branded hot dogs that’s “false and misleading to consumers”.
“This is a weak attempt by Oscar Mayer to mislead millions of consumers with false and inaccurate claims,” said Chuck Hemmingway, brand director for Ball Park. “Simply put, we believe that these untrue statements are all a bunch of bologna.”
Sara Lee pointed to IRI data over the last year that showed the Ball Park beef hot dog line has experienced double-digit growth of 14.2%, while the Oscar Mayer total beef hot dog line has experienced a volume decline of 1.1%.
“We’re the nation’s beef hot dog leader,” he added. “Millions of Americans have voted Ball Park with their wallets and their taste buds, and we’re not going to stand by and allow these consumers to be misled.”
Kraft wrote to MeatingPlace to offer its own take on the situation: “Clearly, Ball Park does wish it was an Oscar Mayer wiener, since we are America’s favorite hot dog brand,” said Syd Lindner, associate director, corporate affairs at Kraft.
“In fact, we sell more hot dogs than any other brand,” she added. “We stand by our reputation for accurate advertising to our consumers. Since we haven’t yet received the lawsuit, we have no further comment.”
Source: MeatingPlace
See also
Latest news
| |