ANA Files Amicus Brief in San Francisco Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Warning Litigation

The Association of National Advertisers, Inc. (ANA) has filed an amicus
brief in a case challenging San Francisco’s health code provisions
requiring advertisements on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) to notify
the public of alleged health risks associated with SSB consumption. Am.
Beverage Ass’n v. City of San Francisco, No. 15-3415 (N.D. Cal., San
Francisco Div., amicus brief filed January 22, 2016). The brief focuses on
First Amendment arguments against requiring private parties to include
government speech on their product labels.

“The City of San Francisco’s imposition of the Warning Mandate in reaction
to potential over-consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages by its
citizens, whatever the merits of that concern, takes regulatory Nannyism
to new levels and is wholly incompatible with First Amendment protections
afforded to commercial speech,” the brief argues. “If this Court were
to uphold the Board of Supervisors’ conscription of sugar-sweetened
beverage ads to convey government views on health issues there would
be virtually no limit to similar efforts targeting other products, at any
level of government. Every sugary, fatty, salty, processed, or other food
disfavored by the science of the moment would be susceptible to having a
significant portion of its advertising turned into a placard for government
hectoring with which the advertiser not only disagrees, but for which
there may be data controverting the government position.”

Details about the American Beverage Association’s lawsuit challenging
the ordinance appear in Issue 573 of this Update, and information about
the repealed ad ban on city property appears in Issue 586.

Issue 592