National Advertising Division (NAD) Sides with Danone in Challenge of Chobani Comparative Sugar Claims

Danone US, LLC (“Danone”) has successfully challenged Chobani LLC (“Chobani”) before the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs for claiming that Chobani’s Less Sugar Greek Yogurt contains “45% less sugar than other yogurts.”  NAD decided that Chobani’s claim was overly broad and recommended that the claim be revised.

Danone argued that the Chobani claim mislead consumers to believe that “other yogurts” includes plain yogurts and yogurts made with non-nutritive sweeteners.  NAD agreed that the Chobani claim was misleading because it implied that “other yogurts” includes non-nutritive sweetened yogurts, but disagreed that the claim includes plain yogurt products.  Chobani has agreed to comply with NAD’s decision and will revise its claim to clarify that “other yogurts” does not include yogurts made with non-nutritive sweeteners.

The Danone-Chobani challenge is the latest NAD case in which sugar claims have been challenged by a competitor, and we expect to see more competitive challenges of sugar claims given their popularity.  Keller and Heckman advises and represents clients in various stages and types of NAD proceedings.