SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — A beer once produced by Pabst Brewing was not deceptive in the marketing to sell its now-discontinued Olympia Beer, a federal judge in California ruled Monday.
U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Calabretta said in his motion for summary judgment that plaintiff Brendan Peacock offered no evidence showing a reasonable buyer would be deceived by an image on Olympia Beer’s packaging or its slogan.
Peacock argued that Pabst stopped producing the beer in 2003 in Tumwater, Washington, and began using contract brewers, and lower-quality water, across the country. But the company kept selling it under the name “the Original Olympia Beer" and continued to use the slogan “It’s the Water,” according to the plaintiff. An image of unique waterfalls in the Olympia area created the appearance that Pabst still brewed at the original site, he added.
“Plaintiff allegedly also purchased the product ‘several times per year’ and drinking Olympia Beer ‘has been plaintiff’s family tradition for many years and the story of the uniqueness and value of the artesian water has been passed down through oral tradition,’” Calabretta wrote.
Pabst stopped producing the beer in 2021.
Peacock had tried to certify the suit as a class action, but a different judge found that he lacked standing, because the beer was out of production.
Pabst argued no reasonable person was likely to be deceived by the beer’s marketing, saying that Peacock didn’t provide “even a shred of evidence” that its beer packaging was deceptive. Peacock did not have any expert witnesses or any evidence showing that someone else may have shared his view of the marketing, the brewing company said.
Peacock said there was a dispute about people being deceived by the marketing, claiming that “substantial evidence” — including his own testimony, historical references presented by Pabst’s witness and the beer’s label and marketing itself — proved beer buyers were misled.
The beer company pointed to a consumer survey and expert analysis of the survey — evidence it says shows the marketing for Olympia Beer wasn’t misleading.
Two surveys were conducted to understand why people buy Olympia Beer. Out of 185 people responding, no one pointed to the water used to brew the beer as the reason they bought it. Ten people, or about 5%, said the “geographic origin of the beer” was part of the reason they purchased it.
“These reasons were similarly low for respondents who had made subsequent purchases,” the judge states.
In the second survey, four people, or 2% of the 202 people responding, pointed to the source of the water used in the brewing process as a message they saw in the labeling.
That led Pabst’s expert to determine that the people who bought Olympia Beer weren’t misled into a purchase. He also found there was no evidence that the beer’s labels were misleading.
According to Pabst, the only evidence Peacock had of supposed deception was “his own individual and self-serving allegations and deposition testimony.” Additionally, Peacock didn’t depose the beer company’s expert witness and challenged none of his findings.
“Accordingly, plaintiff has failed to meet his burden to show that there exists a genuine issue of material fact as to whether a reasonable consumer would have been deceived by defendant’s marketing,” the judge said.
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