It became known as “Corngate.” It was triggered by an Anheuser-Busch ad campaign stating that AB does not include corn syrup as an ingredient while Miller Lite and Coors Light does use corn syrup. That was followed by a lawsuit filed by MillerCoors in March in a Wisconsin federal court in which it sought to halt what it claimed was “false and misleading” ad claims and “willful trademark dilution,” saying that the ads had damaged the reputation of Miller Lite and Coors Light. A Wisconsin district court temporarily barred AB from running the ad campaign and blocked AB from using “no corn syrup” on its Bud Light packaging.
But today, the Seventh Circuit court struck down the lower court’s decision, allowing the claim, and the ad campaign to continue.
The court ruled that AB’s ads aren’t false or misleading because Molson admitted that corn syrup is an ingredient in its beers, the court said.