Mom Takes on Nutella

One woman, Laura Rude-Barbato, says she used to give her children Nutella quite often, allowing them to eat it for breakfast more often than not. Rude-Barbato says that after seeing the commercial, she identified with it, as the commercial portrayed a busy mom serving her children toast with the Nutella spread for breakfast, which is what she ended up doing as well up until she saw that each tablespoon of the chocolate and hazelnut spread was equivalent to approximately 10.5 grams of sugar. After seeing this, she was understandably upset and says she did not realize she was giving her children that much sugar, especially for breakfast. After noticing this, she longer allowed her children to eat it and she would not eat it herself either. After cutting the Nutella out of her children’s diet, she joined a lawsuit against the company that produces the spread, claiming that they have been misleading their consumers with different marketing strategies and labels, making people believe Nutella was a healthier alternative to peanut butter.

The company that produces Nutella is not the only one that has to deal with lawsuits based on false and misleading advertisements. The Kellogg Company did not admit to any wrongdoing but did settle a lawsuit for $5million because of a commercial it displayed in which the company stated both Cocoa Krispies and Rice Krispies were good for kids and their immunity, even though there was no researched performed to back up the statement that was made. Danone SA, known for being a leader in yogurt production, also dealt with some controversy. The company produced commercials for both Activia and DanActive, in which they stated that eating the yogurt helped to prevent illness even though there was no evidence to back that statement up. The company chose to stand by its advertisements but still paid off $35 million to the consumers.

For busy moms, it seems that companies are taking advantage of them and trying to mislead them into believing certain foods and snacks are good for their children when they are really not. Labels on Nutella show that the phrase actually says that the chocolate and hazelnut spread is “An example of a tasty and balanced breakfast.” Obviously, this type of phrase could mislead a busy mom or anyone for that matter into believing that this spread is healthy and nutritious and is therefore good for the children as well. A spokesperson for Ferrero USA Inc., the producers of Nutella, says that they will continue to back up their product and its high quality ingredients that are used to put together the tasty spread. Rude-Barbato, on the other hand, will now spend more time checking labels to see what types of ingredients are really in the foods she serves to her children.