Last February, I told you about a class action lawsuit filed against the makers of the chocolate hazelnut spread, Nutella. The lead plaintiff in the class action, a mom from San Diego, claimed she was misled by the picture of milk, bread and fruit on the front of the jar, and was “shocked” to discover that the product in fact contains about 70% saturated fat and 55% processed sugar by weight.
I was pretty flip the first time I wrote about this case, noting out that the product’s nutritional profile was easily accessible from the label. But then a few TLT readers took me to task, pointing out that Nutella’s website and advertising does create the impression that the spread is a nutritious product. (And it really isn’t: Michele Hays over at Quips, Travails and Braised Oxtails once did an experiment to visually deconstruct the ingredients. Click here and scroll down to see what she found out.)
Well, TLT blogger: zero. TLT readers: one.
Ferrero, the maker of Nutella, has just settled the lawsuit for, reportedly, three million dollars. It will also make some changes its advertising, labeling and website. If you feel you were harmed by the false, implied health claims, you can claim your share of the settlement ($4 a jar for up to five jars) here.
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Aurora says
I’m looking at the label of a jar of Nutella right now. It clearly says 17% (of DV) fat, 18% saturated fat, 21g of sugar. Sugar and palm oil are clearly listed as the first two ingredients. Of course they put the milk and fruit on the ads and on the labels. IT’S ADVERTISING. Pictures on the label do not excuse one from having to actually read the ingredients, think, and make a decision about the role of this food in the family diet. What about all those sugar-laden cereals that say they’re part of a balanced breakfast with milk, fruit, and toast? Are we now going to sue General Mills and Post? The victim mentality of our culture is just appalling. People need to take responsibility for their choices.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Aurora: I totally hear you, and I’ve actually been critical in the past of some of these types of lawsuits. But I’m also a former advertising lawyer and when I looked at the latest Nutella ads, I felt that there was a false, implied health claim that could unfairly dupe consumers. Clearly Nutella must have felt legally vulnerable, too, given that it settled.
Uly says
Not necessarily, although I *do* think (and have for a while) that the ads are ridiculous.
They could simply think that the bad publicity of taking this to trial is not worth it, regardless of which side of the law they’re on.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
True, but I’ve seen companies go to court and win these things, too.
Chris says
It would be especially funny if they settled to avoid the bad publicity of people finding out that Nutella isn’t health food.
I’ve had a weakness for Nutella ever since my first crepe in Paris twenty years ago. Recently, though, I’ve switched over to an upscale competitor (Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter). The funny thing is, Justin’s compares its unnamed competitor with cake frosting, and boasts that its spread has much less sugar, which is true — it has 1/3 the sugar of Nutella — but they don’t mention that it also has five times the salt. (That’s what makes it so delicious, though!)
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Chris – don’t get me started on Justin! There’s a Vanilla Almond version, sold only at Whole Foods, that’s also tantalizingly sweet/salty. Try it at your peril — you could become like me, pathetically asking WF clerks when its going to get restocked, as it’s almost always sold out.
Tracy says
Vanilla Almond? OMG! Where can I get some? LOL!
Alicia says
I wish I were so gullible. That stuffs has always looked so yummy. I think their ads are misleading, but so is every other processed food. I think anyone who doesn’t know to read labels, and doesn’t realize all the tricks played by food manufactures is bound to think all sorts of things are healthy.
renee says
Really?! You can get paid for not paying attention to what you put in your own body? I mean, seriously, one bite of nutella with a blindfold on is enough to tell you that this stuff is delicious, sugary, processed, artery clogging goodness. The bacon industry is gonna be paying up!!!! Because how can bacon with a sprig of mint and strawberry slice on the label be bad?! Ugh…this society is utterly ridiculous. Makes me sad.
Kate says
I’ve never bought or tried Nutella. I’ve heard lots of word of mouth advertising for it. From hearing others talk about it though, it seems like consumers are willing to buy in to how it is marketed…as a more upscale version of peanut butter that must surely be good for you.
EdT. says
Unfortunately, I can’t have the stuff in my house – my wife is allergic to hazelnuts.
Even so, I have a hard time believing that it is a “health” food. But then, I have learned to ignore advertising, especially food advertising.
~EdT.
mommm!!! says
You think Nutella is bad? Try Speculoos spread. Speculoos says that one serving is 20 grams while the Nutella serving is 37 grams. That makes Speculoos is twice as bad gram for gram than Nutella in terms of sugar and fat. Someone gave it to my son as a gift and I had no idea what it was.
I thought I had successfully banished the offensive little jar to back of the cupboard where it was forgotten, but was sideswiped by Trader Joe’s where we discovered Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter! This product suggests that a serving be only 15 grams, so at the original Speculoos serving suggestions that makes this product worse than the original AND it has saturated fats, which the original product is either lacking or isn’t required to list because it was made in France, who knows. But you got to love how they reduce the serving size to lower the numbers on the nutritional facts label. I mean it has five different oils in it. Really?!.
Karen Frenchy says
OMG! We can find Speculoos spread in the USA ?! I am so going to need 3 spoons : one for Nutella, one for PB and one for speculoos spread…
Bettina Elias Siegel says
I didn’t know what Speculooos was so I Googled it and realized I have sampled this very product (um, several times . . . in one shopping trip) at a store here in Houston. OMG, so yummy.
EdT. says
So, spill the beans… which store was it?
~EdT.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Central Market! They’ve sampled it a few times now — strangely, I seem to find myself unable to leave the vicinity of the sampling table for a long while. 🙂
Karen Frenchy says
As I wrote on the LT’s facebook page, I’m sorry to say that because I love this country but : only in the USA. Nutella has been around for years in Europe (early 60’s) and nobody ever believed this was a healthy product. Sure, we all got some spread on bread, biscottes for breakfast and/or pm afternoon snacks; I still eat nutella so does my 5YO daughter but it is not at all part of her lunch (okay, she has some on a small tartine in the morning). Then if people have a problem with the listed ingredients, it’s fine, they don’t buy and eat it… This lawsuit is really stupid (with a brilliant lawyer). Nutella is not the 1st and won’t be the last company “falsely” advertising their products. What about the big Cereal makers? Peanut butter? Fruit juices? Sodas? Fast food chains? Are Pop tarts healthy and do they provide a well balanced breakfast ? Their commercial is surely misleading…
I have listened to this mother on ABC saying that if she read all the labels in the stores, she would spend 4 hours shopping for her groceries. So, I guess suing companies instead of educating herself is better. I am sorry, I may be harsh but I have a hard time when people blame others for the choices they make…
mommm!!! says
I agree. However, in her defense, food labels read like science magazines and it’s funny that you mention cereals because even I had to come home and research what a lot of those ingredients actually are and I have a working knowledge of chemistry. But I don’t think label confusion is an accident, either. As a mom who has actually spent those four hours or more standing in a grocery store reading labels, it’s depressing bottom line. I mean, you walk into a store filled wall to wall with vast arrays of products, and you start reading those labels and most of them are basically made up of three basic ingredients over and over again with just different packaging, dizzying lists of chemicals, and variations on artificial flavors and colors.
I made the choice to pretty much eliminate all commercially processed foods. If I buy a processed product, it has to be organic, which, has really limited my choices, and thus reduced the amount of processed food I now buy, which is close to nill.
lindtfree says
Back when I was still addicted to chocolate (I have now been “clean” since mid-2003), I LOVED Nutella and its kin. Once, after tellling a colleague about Nutella, I was asked, “How do you eat it?” My reply? “With a spoon!” Several years ago, I baked a homemade layer cake for a birthday party, using Nutella as a filling. Bon appetit, indeed!
Regardless of how much I loved chocolate spreads, I never once considered them as anything other than gluttony in a jar. In order to think Nutella was healthful, one would need to have a subnormal IQ or, more likely, be in a serious state of self-imposed denial. As for reading labels, it’s not that difficult. Most of us probably buy 75% of the same groceries over and over as staples, so it’s not as if we have to read labels on every shopping trip.
When McDonald’s was sued for causing obesity, I could somewhat see the point, if only because McDonald’s serves foods that many people consider appropriate for meals, not just treats. Nutella, like imported chocolate and “gourmet” chips, is clearly glorified junk food.
Considering how much profit Ferrero made from my long-ago Nutella purchases, I would love to claim $20 from the settlement. . .however, it wouldn’t be honest, and even if it were, the statute of limitations (in my case) would be long past!
bw1 says
“IMPLIED health claim that could unfairly dupe consumers.”
Stupid consumers, maybe. At what point are you willing to stop having the government relieve us of all responsibility for thinking clearly?
“Clearly Nutella must have felt legally vulnerable, too, given that it settled.”
You’re a lawyer, right? You expect anyone to buy that? Settling lawsuits is a business decision, nothing more.
There was a time when people had the brains to know that anything so pleasurable was probably not healthy. If we continue this victimology thinking, the species will begin to de-evolve.