Coca-Cola fires back on Powerade suit

Posted May 1, 2009 2:29 pm by BevNET.com Staff

Coca-Cola fired back this week on a PepsiCo suit objecting to advertisements for Powerade ION4 by claiming that Coca-Cola had done nothing wrong – or, at least, that it hadn’t done anything Gatorade hadn’t done already.



The advertising campaign derides Gatorade as “incomplete” because it contains only two electrolytes while the new Powerade contains four. To stress that message, the ads depict halved bottles of Gatorade juxtaposed with complete bottles of Powerade ION4.



Coke’s lawyers told the court this week that the campaign’s message is little different from what Gatorade has said with its own ELITE line of products. The line includes an ENDURANCE FORMULA with elevated electrolyte content – including magnesium and calcium, the two electrolytes included in ION4 that are not included in Gatorade’s core formula.