PepsiCo Sued Over Its Naked Juice Marketing

Naked Juice hasn’t been transparent—naked, if you will—with their marketing, according to a recent lawsuit.

PepsiCo has been sued by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a consumer-advocacy group, saying PepsiCo misled consumers through its Naked Juice marketing campaign. CSPI states in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that PepsiCo is marketing Naked Juice beverages as healthier than they actually are.

It’s not that CSPI believes the beverages are unhealthy; their problem with Naked Juice is that it’s marketed as a healthy option with “only the best ingredients.” According to CSPI, Naked Juice is using “cheap, nutrient-poor” juices instead of the super nutrients Naked Juice supposedly has in their drinks.

For instance, the main ingredients for the Kale Blazer juice are orange and apple juice, despite the packaging and marketing plastered with green leaves.

“Consumers are paying higher prices for the healthful and expensive ingredients advertised on Naked labels, such as berries, cherries, kale and other greens, and mango,” CSPI litigation director Maia Kats said in a statement. “But consumers are predominantly getting apple juice, or in the case of Kale Blazer, orange and apple juice. They’re not getting what they paid for.”

Another problem CSPI has with Naked Juice is the sugar content. CSPI states that Naked Juice beverages can have more sugar than a can of Pepsi. Even though Naked Juice beverages don’t add any sugar to their juices, a 15.2 ounce container of Pomegranate Blueberry juice has 61 grams of sugar, about 50 percent more sugar content than a can of Pepsi.

In a statement, PepsiCo defended their marketing, saying the lawsuit was baseless and there is nothing misleading about its product.

“All products in the Naked portfolio proudly use fruits and/or vegetables with no sugar added, and all Non-GMO claims on label are verified by an independent third party,” PepsiCo said in a statement. “Any sugar present in Naked Juice products comes from the fruits and/or vegetables contained within and the sugar content is clearly reflected on label for all consumers to see.”

In the class-action lawsuit, CSPI wants PepsiCo to award monetary damages to consumers who paid for Naked Juice drinks and force its marketing to be more transparent.