In recent news the company Keurig Dr. Pepper, now the parent company of Dr. Pepper, has been found by the 9th circuit appeals court that it did not intentionally mislead customers by using the term “diet” to describe its soda.
The decision was filed December 30th by Judge Jay Bybee that California resident Shana Becerra was unable to show that a consumer would associate drinking diet soda with health benefits. Becerra had sought legal action claiming that the company misled consumers with the word “diet” when numerous studies show aspartame, the artificial sweetener used, can cause weight gain and has zero benefits to weight loss. The judge however ruled that there is a fine line in what is truly deceptive and companies are not at fault if a consumer unreasonably interprets the term, as long as the company itself makes no claims that are intentionally misleading.