Vitaminwater Lawsuit: The 'Healthy' Sugar-Drink Claims

What the Case Challenged

Beginning in 2009, the Center for Science in the Public Interest and other lawyers sued Coca-Cola over how it marketed Vitaminwater, with slogans like “vitamins + water = all you need.” The problem, the plaintiffs said, was sugar: a typical bottle of Vitaminwater contains around eight teaspoons of it, so branding the drink as a straightforwardly healthy vitamin beverage was deceptive.

It became a landmark example of “better for you” beverage marketing running ahead of the nutrition label.

The Settlement

A federal court gave final approval to a class-action settlement in 2016 covering California and New York purchasers. Rather than large cash payments to consumers, the settlement required Coca-Cola to change how it markets the product: it barred certain health claims and required adding the words “with sweeteners” near the brand name on the label. A related consolidated case in other states settled for a separate sum.

Label-change settlements like this aim to fix the deception going forward, which critics note delivers less to individual buyers than a cash refund would.

What Shoppers Should Know

“Vitamin,” “enhanced” and “+” branding on a beverage does not mean low-sugar; the added-sugar line on the Nutrition Facts label is the real test. The Vitaminwater case is a durable reminder that a health halo on a drink can coexist with a soda’s worth of sugar.