Hormel Sues Campbell's Over Advertising

Hormel Foods is stewing over Campbell's advertising. The company says Campbell's shouldn't refer to its Chunky Fully Loaded soup as a "stew" and has filed a lawsuit against Campbell's for "misrepresenting the nature, characteristics, ingredients, benefits and qualities of its Chunky Fully Loaded soup products in commercial advertising and promotion."

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While you don't often hear about stew wars, the companies have squared off against each other in the past. In 1991, Campbell's filed a complaint with the National Advertising Review Board over Hormel's advertising that said people preferred the company's Micro Cup hearty soups 2 to 1 over Campbell's. Hormel ended up changing the ad to use the words, "widely preferred" instead.

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More on the Hormel Lawsuit:

Hormel points out that Campbell's Fully Loaded Beef Stew product also has the words "stew" and "soup" on the label. The lawsuit also claims that Campbell's print ads for Chunky Fully Loaded soup are arranged in a way to mask the word "soup" from its advertising.

Hormel makes Dinty Moore Chicken Stew, Meatball Stew, Turkey Stew and Beef Stew. If you're wondering about what the big fuss is about, the USDA actually has a full list of what constitutes beef stew. Some of those requirements say that "beef stew shall be composed of: 20.0 to 30.0 percent potatoes, 8.0 to 14.0 percent carrots, and at least 3.0 percent peas (raw weight basis)."