Food, Beverage Makers Rethink Marketing After Flood of ESG Suits

The food and beverage industry faces pressure to clean up its marketing following a flood of lawsuits that target big-name companies like Coca-Cola Co. and Nestle SA over greenwashing and other misleading claims.

Lawsuits targeting advertising in the food industry are at a peak, lawyers say. As a result, companies are looking to alter the way they present products and better back up claims they make about sustainability and other ethics-based selling points.

“The industry is kind of a magnet for these types of claims,” said Joshua Margolin, a partner at Selendy Gay Elsberg, noting that food companies can be ...