According to a Reuters report on the 18th, Starbucks is facing a lawsuit that accuses Starbucks of misleading consumers by saying that several of its fruit drinks lack actual fruit ingredients. According to the report, in August last year, two plaintiffs from New York and California filed a lawsuit accusing Starbucks of violating consumer protection laws in multiple states.
The reason is that Starbucks' mango pitaya, mango pitaya lemonade, pineapple passion fruit and other beverage products do not contain the fruits claimed in the advertisements. The main ingredients are water, concentrated grape juice and sugar.
In response, Starbucks argued that the product name described the flavor, not the drink ingredients, and that consumers' questions could be answered by in-store employees. However, the hospital rejected Starbucks' request to withdraw the lawsuit on the 18th, believing that its drink names named after ingredients would lead most consumers to believe that the drinks contained real fruits. However, the judge found that there was no evidence that Starbucks intentionally deceived consumers and therefore dismissed the plaintiff's claims for fraud and unjust enrichment. The judge accepted nine other claims regarding whether the fruit drinks misled consumers.
The report also mentioned that Starbucks issued a statement that day reiterating that the allegations in the complaint were "inaccurate and baseless" and that it would defend these accusations.