Celeb-Endorsed ‘Health’ Drink Faces Lawsuit Over Ingredient Controversy

Makers of popular drink that claims to be a healthy alternative to soda will potentially have to defend the merits of their concoction in court after a class-action lawsuit accused the beverage of being bad for you.

According to Scripps News, Poppi Soda has advertised itself — often with the help of celebrities — as a salubrious alternative to Coke or Pepsi thanks to its inulin prebiotic content. The fibers can help with stabilizing your blood sugar, healthy bowel movements and improving gut bacteria.

However, the suit notes that the fiber in the drink is too little to “cause meaningful gut health benefits for the consumer from just one can.”

In the suit, filed Wednesday by plaintiff Kristin Cobbs on behalf of “similarly situated” consumers in the Northern District of California, says that the drink — distributed by Austin, Texas-based VNGR Beverage LLC — only contains two grams of the fiber, along with fruit juice and apple cider vinegar.

“Accordingly, a consumer would need to drink more than four Poppi sodas in a day to realize any potential health benefits from its prebiotic fiber. However, even if a consumer were to do this, Poppi’s high sugar content would offset most, if not all, of these purported gut health benefits,” the lawsuit states.

It continued: “Although Poppi’s rise in popularity can be attributed to its enticing flavors and clever marketing, the core of Poppi’s success is primarily owed to a particular ingredient: agave inulin, the Products’ so-called ‘Prebiotic.’

“But, despite Poppi’s ‘prebiotic’ marketing claims, which assure consumers, on the can, that they can ‘Be Gut Happy [and] Be Gut Healthy,’ as one nutritionist bluntly explained: the Products ‘are basically sugared water.’”

In the suit, Cobbs, a resident of San Francisco, said she purchased the drink numerous times up to March of this year because of the marketing.

“Thus, Plaintiff reasonably relied on Defendant’s representations when she decided to purchase the Products,” the suit states.

“Accordingly, those representations and warranties were part of the basis of her bargains, in that Ms. Cobbs would not have purchased the Products on the same terms had she known that those representations were not true … Had Ms. Cobbs known that Defendant’s representations and warranties about the Products were false, she would not have purchased the Products or would have paid substantially less for them.”

The suit seeks $5 million on behalf of the class.

Leaving aside the relative merits of filing a class-action suit because of a disgruntled customer or three who probably should have read nutritional labels more carefully, the legal action raises questions about how a supposedly healthful treat beloved by millennial and Gen Z consumers could become so popular without real scrutiny about the claims its maker made.

The Poppi brand, founded in 2016, became renown after its founders appeared on the show “Shark Tank.” The soda is now one of the fastest growing beverage brands in the United States, outpacing more established drinks like Gatorade and Liquid Death in terms of growth, according to Business Insider.

It currently sits at a 19 percent market share, more than one and a half times more than Coca-Cola branded products, Forbes reported in March.

The drink’s increased visibility is based in no small part on celebrity endorsements, as well.

“Along the way, we’ve become beloved by some new besties like Post Malone, Hailey Bieber, Kylie Jenner, Billie Eilish, Russell Westbrook, JLo, Olivia Munn, and more,” the brand notes on its website.

And, as Forbes noted, in just two years, “Poppi has built a grassroots strategy using organic social and influencer marketing amounting to 204MM impressions and 2.3MM engagements in 2023.”

“Poppi’s become so much more than a soda, it’s a tight-knit community and lifestyle at this point,” said brand creator Allison Ellsworth, according to Forbes.

“We’re a part of people’s daily lives, and we don’t take that for granted! From exclusive merch to exciting collaborations with other brands, we’re creating hype and interest that goes beyond a product.

“As soda lovers, we want to share the joy and the freedom of drinking soda again and normalizing it. For a long time, soda has had a bad reputation and it’s our mission to turn that around. The response we see from Gen Z lets us know we’re on the right path!”

Poppi officials did not respond to requests for comment by either Scripps News or Business Insider, so we don’t know how Poppi feels about being on the “right path” after this lawsuit. Perhaps, however, the light shed by the lawsuit will serve as yet another warning that, as desperate as consumers might be to find it, there’s no such thing as a nutritional free lunch.