Anheuser-Busch must halt deceptive ads for Michelob ULTRA Hard Seltzer, judge says
Updated Feb 10, 2021;
Posted Feb 09, 2021
Michelob Ultra this year released what Anheuser-Busch called the first national USDA certified organic hard seltzer, which a judge called false, deceptive false advertising. A Pendleton-based brewery released a USDA certified organic hard seltzer months earlier.Michelob ULTRA
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“Truth matters,” U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon wrote in his 25-page opinion.
He issued a temporary restraining order for the beverage maker to halt the deceptive ads.
In the commercial titled “Not Playing Around,” the ad described Michelob ULTRA Organic Seltzer as “the only national USDA Certified Organic Hard Seltzer. We’re not playing around.”
Organic Seltzer Battle Brewing Over Anheuser-Busch Super Bowl Spot
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No, not David Fincher s commercial.
Does describing a boozy beverage as the only “national hard seltzer that is USDA certified organic” imply that it s the first and only of its kind in the country? That s the question before an Oregon federal judge in a brewing battle over a Super Bowl spot.
Suzie s Brewery Company on Tuesday sued Anheuser-Busch for false advertising and filed a motion for a temporary restraining order that would keep it from airing ads that Suzie s claims are false. Using the bully-pulpit its massive national advertising budget allows, Anheuser-Busch has premiered a new false and misleading advertising campaign aimed at convincing health-conscious drinkers that its new organic hard seltzer is a unique, one-of-a-kind product. To be clear, it is not, writes attorney Daniel C. Peterson in the complaint. And Anheuser-Busch will continue to pursue its strategy of
Oregon hard seltzer maker takes on beverage giant Anheuser-Busch in pre-Super Bowl scrimmage in court
Updated Feb 07, 2021;
Posted Feb 04, 2021
Chris Barhyte, the founder and chief executive officer of Suzie’s Brewery, says his family-owned business has been distributing its USDA-certified organic hard seltzer for at least five months before Anheuser-Busch s Michelob Ultra seltzer entered the market.
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Updated Feb. 5, 2021: Court hearing rescheduled to Mon., Feb. 8.
Owners of a Pendleton-based brewery bristled at an ad that aired Jan. 24 during a nationally televised NFL playoff game and promoted Michelob ULTRA Organic Seltzer as the “only national USDA organic certified seltzer.”
That’s just not true, says Suzie’s Brewery.