Public Health Advocacy Institute

Banned In the Cage: How Xyience and NOS Unfairly and Deceptively Market Energy Drinks

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing, Uncategorized /

by Cara Wilking, J.D., Rebecca Leff and Katelyn Blaney The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has its roots in “cage-fighting” and was long considered too wild and violent for mainstream sports fans. Not long ago cage-fighting was shunned by parents, banned by states and rejected by broadcast networks and cable operators for its brutality. While cage-fighting […]

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NYC’s new soda size restriction should survive any legal challenge (but, so far, hasn’t): An Update

Food Beverage Marketing, News, Press Release /

Updated:  July 30, 2013 At this point, the Supreme Court of NY County (March 11, 2013) and the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Dept. (today) have ruled that the sugary beverage serving size cap in New York is invalid. The case name is: In re New York Statewide Coalition of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, et al.

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Major Energy Drink Makers Don’t Play By Their Own Rules

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing, News /

Cara Wilking, J.D Today, the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, released a report entitled Energy Drink Self-Regulation chronicling the ways in which major energy drink makers openly violate the self-regulatory guidelines issued by their own trade association, the American Beverage Association (ABA).  A review of energy drink

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Coors Light and The Wolverine Market Beer to Underage Youth

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing, Injury Reduction /

by Cara Wilking, J.D. and Rebecca Leff A new Coors Brewing Company television advertisement called “Mutant Can”shows two scientists in a lab trying to find a way to improve the design of the Coors Light beer can. They then are shown in a movie theater watching The Wolverine (2013) and are inspired to improve the can

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Super-Sized Lunchables Solicits Teens to Upload Risky User-Generated Content

Feet To The Fire, Food Beverage Marketing, Injury Reduction, Obesity /

by Cara Wilking, J.D. Seeking to capitalize on the public’s insatiable appetite for Youtube stunt videos, Kraft Foods has teamed up with Rob Dyrdek, the host of MTV’s Ridiculousness, to market its recently released Lunchables Uploaded line of lunch kits. Marketed to parents as a way to “Give them more of what they love,” Lunchables

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Lorillard Inc., v. United States Food and Drug Administration, No. 11-440

Tobacco /

On February 21, 2011, Lorillard Tobacco Company and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company filed a complaint[1] against the FDA in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the composition of the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee (“TPSAC”) and alleging that TPSAC failed to comply with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (“FACA”). TPSAC

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R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Food & Drug Admin., NO. 11-5332

Tobacco /

In August, 2011, five tobacco companies[1] filed a complaint [2] against the FDA in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that certain provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (“Tobacco Act”) violated their First Amendment right to free speech.[3] The tobacco companies challenged the graphic warning requirements

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Disc. Tobacco City & Lottery, Inc. v. United States

Tobacco /

In August, 2009,  tobacco manufacturers and sellers[1] brought suit [2] in the United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky against the FDA, challenging provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (“Tobacco Act”). In a case previously known as Commonwealth Brands, Inc v. United States, plaintiffs challenged the following requirements

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Sottera, Inc. v. Food & Drug Admin.

Tobacco /

In April of 2009, Sottera, Inc., an importer and distributor of electronic cigarettes (“e-cigarettes”), sought a preliminary injunction barring the FDA from denying their products entry into the United States. E-cigarettes are “battery-powered products that allow users to inhale nicotine vapor without fire, smoke, ash, or carbon monoxide.”[1] The nicotine in each e-cigarette is derived

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Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rules that all cigarettes sold in Massachusetts are defective

News, Press Release, Tobacco /

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Edward L. Sweda, Jr. or  Mark Gottlieb 617-373-8462 or 617-373-2026  2010 Verdict Reflected Juror Outrage at Handouts of Free Cigarettes to Children. The SJC today unanimously rejected Lorillard Tobacco Co.’s attempt to evade liability in a case brought by Willie Evans, whose mother Marie died in 2002 at the age of 54. 

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