Beam Suntory, the spirits company behind brands such as Jim Beam and Makers Mark, has recently faced much scrutiny over the use of the term “handcrafted” on their bottles of whiskey. There have been three separate lawsuits brought against the bourbon giant in the last year alone. Blue Moon Brewing Company, a division of MillerCoors, also faced a recent class-action lawsuit over the marketing phrase “Artfully Crafted” which appears on the label, allegedly misleading consumers into thinking Blue Moon is a craft beer. With the rise in popularity of craft beers around the country, what does the term handcrafted really mean?
Well, for starters, the definition of a craft brewery is not a legal definition. According to the Brewers Association, a craft brewery produces less than 6 million barrels of beer annually. However, this term is simply a guideline, not a legal definition recognized by the US government, and therefore it cannot be upheld in a court of law. Handcrafted also has many vague associations, but not one standard, measurable definition in a court of law.
In the Beam Suntory lawsuits, the plaintiffs claimed that they were enticed into buying the company’s bourbon at a premium price because they believed the term “handcrafted” meant higher quality, and they associated the term with high human involvement in the production process. The actual production process is mostly automated, involving stills and other equipment, which US District Judges acknowledged has always been necessary in the production process. The judges ruled that the loose associations made with the word handcrafted are not specific and measurable, and that a reasonable consumer would not interpret the term to mean that someone literally made the product entirely by hand, involving no machines. All three Bean Suntory lawsuits were dismissed by federal judges.
The world of branding can be strange. Consumers may very well be misled by marketing tactics, but unless the company actually violates something that is legally definable, the lawsuit won’t stand.
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