SoBe Lifewater Drinks: Chemistry Text Or ‘All-Natural’? Class Suit Contests Labeling

Beverage giant Pepsico Inc. and subsidiary South Beach Beverage Co. are targeted in a putative class action filed Feb. 21 by a California man who alleges the companies market South Beach 0 Calories Lifewater drinks as “all natural” when they contain a lengthy list of chemical ingredients (Hairston v. South Beach Beverage Co.).

The companies have, since 2009, prominently labeled certain Lifewater drinks as “All Natural” and containing certain fruit in order to capture a segment of the lucrative nonalcoholic beverage market, plaintiff Charles Hairston asserts. Such labeling “create[s] a reasonable consumer expectation that the products are manufactured ...