POM Wonderful can (and does) take credit for introducing Americans to pomegranate as a beverage. But as competitors came into the segment and created their own pomegranate beverages, Pom Wonderful's grip began to slip — especially as the FTC started clamping down on POM's "super health powers!" advertising claims.

The beverage-maker was sued by the FTC in 2010 and it has remained under the watchful eye of the feds, who are cracking down on health-related promises by marketers (ask Skechers about their $40 million pay-back to customers).

And in its latest legal twist, this week, POM wasn't able to get a U.S. District Court judge in California to agree with its stance against a tough competitor, Coca-Cola.Continue reading...

Apple suspends iPhone 4S sales in China after riot breaks out at Beijing launch.

Delta eyes bid for American Airlines, AFP says, and so do others.

MetLife cuts 4,300 jobs as company exits mortgage business.

BMW and Daimler plan to raise U.S. output.

Bank of America ponders retreat from some regions of U.S.

Best Buy sees fallout from holiday delivery foul-up.

CBS talks with David Letterman about a new contract.

CVS Caremark settles deceptive-pricing charges.

Chipotle plans to open second ShopHouse Asian restaurant.

Coca-Cola expands social marketing to Tumblr.Continue reading...

Cola-Cola Co. recently turned itself and a competitor in to federal regulators on for having an unapproved fungicide in its orange juice, according to Fox News. The company isn’t divulging to the public, however, which of its OJ brands, which include Minute Maid (“Pure Squeezed”) and Simply Orange (“Honestly Simple”), had the chemical in it, but did tell regulators that the fungicide was evidence that some orange growers in Brazil were using it.

There’s no plan to recall any orange juice, according to KQOAM, but future prices for oranges went down Wednesday with the expectation that sales would suffer even though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that the fungicide is at too low a level to raise any safety issues. The FDA released an advisory that it is testing orange juice sold in supermarkets for the potentially harmful fungicide.

Imported orange juice is being stopped at borders and tested, according to Fox, while “U.S. brands (that) agency officials believe contain a high percentage of Brazilian juice” are also being tested in groceries themselves.Continue reading...

Huge and privately held, Minnesota-based Cargill used to be one of the biggest companies you’d never heard of.

The $108-billion grain-processing giant has its finger in food commodities all over the world, It’s a huge presence in ingredients for better-for-you foods and beverages, and it occasionally ticks off environmentalists over sustainability issues. But Cargill wasn’t known for building consumer brands.

Until now. With some practice on its Coro Wise sterols that are an ingredient in cholesterol-lowering foods such as Minute Maid Heart Wise orange juice, Cargill has hit a brand-building home run as a rookie at the practice.

Its Truvia “natural” sweetener, made from the stevia bush native to South America, has surpassed venerable Sweet ‘N Low as the No. 2 sugar substitute in the country, according to AC Nielsen.Continue reading...

Throughout his new documentary, POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, director Morgan Spurlock contemplates the influence on advertising, product placement and what it means to "sell out," or he interchangeably calls it, "buy in."

When we first heard that POM Wonderful was the marquee brand attached to the project, we wondered if Spurlock was getting used by a brand that had already participated in nearly the exact same stunt with TIME magazine. Now that the movie is out, and POM's side of its cross-promotional bargain with Spurlock is gearing up, it's clear we were right.

POM is using Spurlock to carry its (flavored) water, helping the beverage-maker skirt any charges from the FDA and FCC about making unfounded claims about the supposed health benefits of its juice. And while Spurlock gleefully cops to "selling out" to his brand partners in order to make a point (and some cash) for his movie, he doesn't seem to understand how much he's compromising with the title sponsor of his film.Continue reading...

Some of the most interesting branding battles of late have been over labeling. First, the US Corn Refiners Association lobbied the FDA to allow labels to carry the term "corn sugar" instead of "high-fructose corn syrup."

Now, Pom Wonderful, the most recognizable brand of premium pomegranate juice, has filed suit against the Federal Trade Commission for implementing regulations on advertising that, wait for it, violate its first amendment rights.Continue reading...

With control over 100 juice companies in more than 145 countries, many acquired in the past 10 years, Coca-Cola is the world’s largest seller of juice. Now, the company has announced plans to create unified global packaging for juices.

Coke's repackaging follows main rival PepsiCo's recent abandonment of a Tropicana redesign, in the faced of widespread customer resistance.

Coca-Cola is undeterred: juices will keep their names, but eventually be given the black labels associated with Minute Maid, the group’s leading US juice brand. Guy Wollaert, head of Coca-Cola’s global juice business, feels that the company is “bringing [consumers and brands alike] under a new roof, with a common look and feel, and that allows us to leverage our scale.”Continue reading...

Oxford Dictionary's "word of the year" (a.k.a. PR stunt): "unfriend." [CNET]

Coca-Cola's Minute Maid package redesign less of a trainwreck than Tropicana's. [Animal]

King of Shaves to introduce women's line in UK and US. [BrandRepublic]

Web campaign solicits pledges to purchase Pabst Brewing Co. [Buy A Beer Company]

Unlike candy and beer, cigarettes suffer during recession. [BusinessWeek]