Here are some facts we’d like you to know:
Blue Buffalo’s promotion, advertising and packaging repeatedly and unequivocally state that its pet food products contain “NO Chicken/Poultry By-Product Meals.” As documented in our lawsuit, however, testing conducted by an independent laboratory revealed that several of Blue Buffalo’s top-selling “Life Protection” pet food products actually contain substantial amounts of poultry by-product meal.
Independent testing also shows that Blue Buffalo “LifeSource Bits” contain poultry by-product meal and corn. In addition, several Blue Buffalo products promoted as “grain-free” actually contain rice hulls, despite Blue Buffalo stating on its website that its “grain-free” products will “free your pet from the grains and glutens that cause allergic reactions in some dogs.”
Our lawsuit follows decisions against Blue Buffalo by the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. In March 2014, NAD found Blue Buffalo’s advertisements to be misleading and disparaging against competitors’ products. NAD also found Blue Buffalo’s advertising deceptive in a 2008 decision that recommended its superiority claims be modified and its “NO Animal By-Products” claims be discontinued when referencing pet food products that actually do contain animal by-products, such as fish meal, lamb meal and/or liver.
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Press Releases:
The complaint estimates that Blue Buffalo spent approximately $50 million in 2013 to promote its claims that Blue Buffalo ingredients are superior to competitors. As a result, Blue Buffalo charges premium prices for its products – significantly more than the pet food products they use for comparison purposes on the Blue Buffalo website.
The lawsuit follows a March 2014 decision of the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, which found that Blue Buffalo is engaging in misleading advertising practices with respect to its claims about competing products. The NAD decision recommended that Blue Buffalo correct its television ad campaigns by removing all of its allegations that Blue Buffalo’s competitors are misleading consumers.
