Legal News

Just in Time for the Holiday, Hot Dog Makers Bust out a Lawsuit

By Ashby Jones

There’s an awkward moment that happens with (mostly) men at barbeques — the kind many of which you may be attending this weekend.

It happens at the grill itself. At many of these affairs, you’ll find a group of men gathered around the grill who are just staring at the meat, not saying anything. Nobody wants to criticize the technique of the host, who presumably has control over whether and when to flip, slide, season and remove the grilling food. But everybody’s thinking about how they’d be doing it differently and largely unable to utter a word about anything else. There they stand in silence; sipping, waiting, judging and, if you’re like us, secretly fretting about how weird it is that you’re all mutely watching the grill, as if it were showing the Super Bowl.

Well, men, when that happens this weekend, here’s a little something you can bring up to break the awkward silence: That the two biggest hot-dog makers in the country are in round one of a legal battle over a boastful advertising claim.

That’s right: On Wednesday, the Sara Lee Corp., maker of Ball Park franks, sued Kraft Foods, the maker of Oscar Mayer hot dogs, for false advertising. In the ads at issue, Kraft claims that one particular Oscar Mayer hot dog tastes better than Ball Parks’ hot dogs. Click here for the article, from the Chicago Tribune.

One such ad appeared in Wednesday’s USA Today. The ad claimed that Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef Franks beat Ball Park and ConAgra Foods’ Hebrew National hot dogs in a national taste test. But in a footnote, the ad notes that the Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef frank is being compared to the “leading beef hot dogs” made by its rivals.

The Sara Lee suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, says the ad is false and misleading because in large type it implies one Oscar Mayer dog bested the taste of all Ball Park dogs. But the footnote, “in very small type,” says that Oscar Mayer compared its hot dogs to “the leading beef franks” of its main rivals.

The suit also claims Oscar Mayer’s contention that its Jumbo Beef franks are “100 percent pure beef” is false because they contain a host of other ingredients.

Kraft Foods spokeswoman Syd Lindner said in a statement, “We stand by our reputation for accurate advertising.” The company declined to comment further because it said it had not seen the lawsuit.

There you go, LB readers. A fascinating conversation topic that will kill at least, uh, 30 seconds that you’d otherwise spend in silence wondering if your burger’s ever going to be done.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 22, 2009 (boomark / email).