There's a lot of products on the market today
that try to tell us that they are superior
to their competitors.
Maybe their product lasts a little bit longer.
Maybe their product has better effects.
Maybe their product does not have as many
side effects.
But whatever the claim is, a lot of these
are really just marketing terms at the end
of the day.
Unfortunately, if you're making that claim
about your product, you have to be able to
back it up.
Joining me now to talk about one of these
claims is Scott Hardy from topclassactions.com
and Scott, of course, I am talking about this
V8 energy class action lawsuit that's happening
right now.
This is a very popular energy drink compared
to some of the other ones because it's V8,
which everybody associates with being healthy,
being honest, being real.
But this class action says that's not how
they are with this particular energy drink.
Take it from there.
Exactly.
They're advertising this energy drink as an
energy drink that will allow you to have caffeine
without the crash.
And so you'll get that big energy burst like
you're hoping for, but it'll be just kind
of slow, smooth and the caffeine will slowly
wind down.
You won't actually feel a big crash because
they make, they put the caffeine in this drink
from green tea, from tea rather than coffee.
And so in their opinion, the caffeine crash,
the caffeine will actually last you longer
than other sources of caffeine.
But of course the science may not actually
agree with it and it appears that the class
action alleges that Campbell's is nitpicking
and the, the science that agrees with them
while the majority of science about caffeine
and whether it's derived from tea or whether
it's derived from coffee, doesn't actually
agree with the Campbell's marketing execs.
And that's the main contention in this class
action.
Yeah, V8 or I guess Campbell's they say it,
because it's made from tea, it has this L-theanine
amino acid and it's that amino acid that gets
into your body and it works with the caffeine
and it essentially tells the caffeine slow
down.
We're not going to release all at once.
We're going to do this over a course of a
few hours here.
Let's take it slow.
And the science is telling us that that's
not how amino acids work.
That's not how L-theanine works.
In fact, that's not how anything works.
Nothing according to scientists, you know,
some studies I should say, nothing's going
to slow the release of caffeine.
It gets released how it gets released.
You can't slow it down.
You can't stop it.
You can't, you know, make it last longer.
It essentially, it is what it is.
That's what the science has told us here and
V8 or Campbell's, excuse me, they tried to
tell us, no, no, no, no, no.
It, they, these chemicals he works well with
caffeine.
They get along, they take it slow together.
So, so there's a lot of problems here.
And unfortunately though, these are problems
that involve science and reactions inside
the body.
Those are a little bit harder, not impossible
by any means, but those are a little bit harder
to prove in court.
Because again, as you pointed out, you may
have conflicting studies here.
V8 may have cherry picked some info.
They may have even, you know, maybe they've
got people who do the studies.
I don't, I don't know.
Maybe they do.
We've seen it plenty of times.
So this is a tricky one, isn't it?
I mean, you know, when you deal with science
and, and molecules and amino acids and everything
like that, things get a little bit more complicated
at that point.
Right.
Once you start looping in scientists and you've
got to make sure that your, your i's are dotted,
your t's are crossed.
And unfortunately according to the V8 class
action, the only difference from caffeine
from tea that has from caffeine, from coffee
is the fact that because of the L-theanine,
L-theanine in tea, it impairs attention and
energy more than coffee does.
So while you're trying to go ahead and drink
your V8 energy drink to get some more awareness
and try to be a, have a healthier option through
your day instead, it actually might be impairing
your attention and your energy rather than
actually helping you out.
And that's really is the opposite effect that
you want when you're, you know, chugging an
energy drink at work to stay at the top of
your game.
What's interesting to me is that, you know,
nobody is out there saying that this product
is not safe or that this product is bad.
So you know, if V8 and Campbell's had simply
just said, hey, it's V8 energy, it's got some
caffeine in it, that's the end of the story.
You know, we don't end up with any of these
lawsuits saying, hey, you're advertising this,
but you can't back it up with the science.
So it's just another one of those examples
where all you had to do as a company was just
say, hey, you like V8?
Do you like caffeine and energy?
Now we have a drink that has both.
Here you go, consumers, everybody goes home
happy.
But they had to take it that extra step.
They had to say our caffeine is better than
their caffeine and now they're in a lot, well
I can't say a lot of trouble, but they're
in trouble at this point.
Right.
Exactly, because, you know, they've got this
energy drink that's flavored.
It's a blend of vegetable and fruit juices,
but the, the drinks actually mostly contain
sweet potato juice.
But they do have the flavors, mango, blueberry,
pineapple, black cherry.
And so they're, they're trying to make it
tasty but and try to become a bit of a healthier
option by saying it's the caffeine is derived
from green tea, but it appears, at least according
to this class action that it doesn't really
do anything for you.
In fact, it may not help you as much as just
a plain old cup of black coffee would.
Absolutely, and if anybody out there enjoys
this V8 product, I encourage you, follow the
link in the description of this video, get
more information about what's happening and
while you're there, check out topclassactions.com
weekly newsletter.
It contains some of the most important information
that consumers in this country need to be
aware of.
Scott Hardy with Top Class Actions.
Thank you very much for talking with me today.
You're welcome.
Thanks for your time, Farron.
