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Store-Brand Manufacturer Wins False Advertising Suit

PBM Products, provider of store-brand infant formula for Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Target, Kroger, Walgreens and others, has been awarded $13.5 million in damages resulting from a false advertising lawsuit filed against Mead Johnson & Co., maker of Enfamil Lipil Infant Formula.

GORDONSVILLE, Va. — PBM Products, provider of store-brand infant formula for Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Target, Kroger, Walgreens and others, has been awarded $13.5 million in damages resulting from a false advertising lawsuit filed against Mead Johnson & Co., maker of Enfamil Lipil Infant Formula.

In its suit PBM claimed that Mead Johnson’s advertising campaigns suggest that PBM’s brands don’t provide the same nutrition as Mead Johnson’s. Both brands are supplemented with DHA and ARA.

PBM’s suit focused on a direct mailing containing a blurry picture of a cartoon duck next to a clear picture of the same image. It contained the language “It may be tempting to try a less expensive store brand, but only Enfamil Lipil is clinically proven to improve brain development.”

“It suggested that anything other than the Enfamil Lipil blend of ingredients is inferior and will result in poor eye and brain development,” according to PBM who said its formula contains DHA and ARA in amounts equal to or exceeding levels found in Mead Johnson’s Enfamil Lipil formula.

Mead Johnson contends that its messaging was not inaccurate.

“While we respect the jury’s decision, we disagree with the interpretation of the facts,” said Chris Perille, spokesman for Mead Johnson. “While there are others that use the same ingredients, no other manufacturer to the best of our knowledge, has documented those benefits in published clinical studies.”

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