U.S. drinks importer, Millennium Import Company, which imports the Belvedere and Chopin vodka brands, has filed a federal lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota against SidneyFrank Importing Co. Inc., over the company's advertising for its vodka brand, Grey Goose

Food & Drink Weekly, Sept 15, 2003

U.S. drinks importer, Millennium Import Company, which imports the Belvedere and Chopin vodka brands, has filed a federal lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Minnesota against SidneyFrank Importing Co. Inc., over the company's advertising for its vodka brand, Grey Goose. Millennium is accusing Sidney Frank Importing of false advertising, consumer fraud, and trade libel.

Millennium has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against Sidney Frank to enjoin Sidney Frank's further use of its current advertising campaign claiming to be the best tasting vodka in the world. The case follows Millennium's complaint over Sidney Frank's advertising to the National Advertising Division (NAD). The NAD ruled in Millennium's favor and Sidney Frank appealed to the National Advertising Review Board (NARB), which upheld the NAD's decision, saying that Sidney Frank's advertisements for Grey Goose are "inaccurate and misleading". Millennium's dispute Sidney Frank is not its claim that it is the leading tasting vodka in the world but that in the list of comparisons made in the advertising Belvedere comes out so badly. Grey Goose's claims come from a 1998 taste test conducted by the Beverage Testing Institute, in which the vodka was the winning brand scoring 96. Grey Goose's advertising not only uses this fact but also lists scores of 31 competing vodkas that include a score of 74 for Belvedere Vodka. The problems with this for Belvedere is that in similar tests that have been conducted since 1998, Belvedere has scored significantly better, including a 91 and a 92.