According to a new lawsuit filed against Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (DPSG), the parent company of Canada Dry, the popular ginger-flavored soft drink doesn’t actually contain ginger. The suit was filed by Julie Fletcher on July 10 and argues she was “misled about the potential health benefits of the ginger-flavored drink.”
We’ve all heard the saying that ginger helps soothe upset stomachs, so when is the last time you took a few swigs of Canada Dry ginger ale when you weren’t feeling well? Did you feel better afterward? If so, it may have all been in your head. According to a new lawsuit filed against Dr. Pepper Snapple Group (DPSG), the parent company of Canada Dry, the popular ginger-flavored soft drink doesn’t actually contain ginger. The suit was filed by Julie Fletcher on July 10 and argues she was “misled about the potential health benefits of the ginger-flavored drink.”
How was Fletcher misled, though? The drink is called Ginger Ale, right? So doesn’t that mean it’s loaded with ginger? Well, not exactly. Even though the bottles and cans of the popular drink claim it’s ‘Made from Real Ginger,’ the lawsuit cites “lab testing that shows the drink doesn’t contain ‘real ginger’ as reasonable consumers understand that term.”
Like many people across the country, Fletcher, a mother in Bolivar, New York, has been drinking Canada Dry for years and has often given it to her children to soothe tummy aches because it’s advertised as containing real ginger. The suit states, “Ms. Fletcher believed this meant that Canada Dry was made using ginger root and was, as a result, a healthier alternative to regular sodas.” Because of this, Fletcher was shocked to learn that another similar lawsuit filed in Missouri “cited lab testing that showed only microscopic amounts of ginger in the soft drink.” So where does all the ginger flavor come from? Well, according to the suit:
“Instead, Canada Dry Ginger Ale is made from carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, preservatives and ‘natural flavors,’ i.e., a flavor compound comprised predominantly of flavor extracts not derived from ginger, and a minuscule amount of a ginger flavor extract.”
The ‘Made from Real Ginger’ packaging labels isn’t the only thing that bothers Fletcher, though. In fact, she claims the company’s commercials were also misleading. In her suit, she says the “DPSG started focusing on the ginger aspect of Canada Dry since the mid-2000s when the soft drink industry was taking a hit for being unhealthy.” It notes that, in 2011, Canada Dry released many commercials “focusing on a ginger farm where bottles and cans of Canada Dry were harvested from the ground like real ginger roots.”
According to the suit, the re-branding worked. Apparently, “within six months of adding the [‘Made from Real Ginger’] claim, Canada Dry sales skyrocketed by almost 9%, and continued to increase every year thereafter — even with sales of regular sodas continuing to decline.”
At the moment Fletcher is seeking unspecified damages, claiming she was “economically damaged by continuing to buy Canada Dry under false pretenses.”
Sources:
A customer couldn’t find any ginger in Canada Dry ginger ale, so she’s suing
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