Photo credit: Kimberly Smith
Naked Juice-loving APU students, take note: The “all natural” juice blend may not be as naked as you think.
The company took a $9 million hit in the Pappas v. Naked Juice lawsuit last July. The action questioned the company’s marketing claims of “100 percent juice” and “No GMOs.”
The legal backing to these claims is not that the vegetable or fruit juices are inorganic, but that there are various additives to the juice products including soy, Firbersol-2 and the fructooligosaccharides, which are genetically modified.
“[Naked] juice is delicious,” sophomore cinema arts major Chandler Nolan said. “It kind of sucks that it’s not natural, but what can you do? Most of the stuff that we eat and drink isn’t natural.”
Naked Juice denied the claims of false advertising, although they did reach the settlement while continuing to defend the quality of the company’s ingredients.
APU, a buyer of Naked Juice, was not affected in the course of this scandal, said Hospitality Services Business Manager Jonathan Teague
“As an individual who loves to get Naked [Juice] … I was very disappointed when I found out that Naked Juice’s claims were false,” sophomore undeclared major Randall Hsieh said.
Junior sociology major Dillan Close was not troubled by the claims of false marketing, but instead the product itself.
“People think [Naked Juice] is healthy, but there’s a ton of sugar in them,” Close said. “You can look at the back of the label. Did people really think they were that healthy?”
Debates on whether a product is natural are difficult because most products are processed, therefore technically no longer natural products directly from the earth.
Buyers who purchased Naked Juice products between Sept. 27, 2007 and Aug. 19, 2013 were eligible for a cut in the settlement if they sent in a form before the Dec. 17, 2013, deadline.
Buyers who had proof of purchase could have received up to a $75 return and buyers without proof of purchase could have received up to $45.
The website nakedjuiceclass.com addresses the claims involved in the Pappas v. Naked Juice Settlement case. The website features information of the settlement and the legal aspects of the case, including a location to make claims.