POM Wonderful facts for kids
 |
|
| Privately held company | |
| Industry | Foods |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Founder | Stewart and Lynda Rae Resnick |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, United States |
|
Key people
|
Derrick Miller (President) |
| Products | Fruit juices, tea, dietary supplements, fresh pomegranates |
| Parent | The Wonderful Company |
POM Wonderful is a private company that sells drinks and fruit extracts. It was started in 2002 by Stewart and Lynda Rae Resnick. They also own other companies like Teleflora and FIJI Water through their main company, The Wonderful Company. In 2010, a government group called the FDA told POM Wonderful to be careful about how they talked about their products. This was because some of their statements made their products sound like medicines, which they are not.
Contents
Delicious POM Products
POM Wonderful is famous for its pomegranate juice. This juice comes in a special "double-bulb" bottle. The company's name, POM, is written in big letters on the bottle. The letter "O" in POM is shaped like a heart!
POM Wonderful also makes other juice mixes. These include pomegranate juice blended with blueberry, cranberry, cherry, mango, or tangerine juices. They also sell bottled teas and coffee drinks. Besides drinks, the company sells pills and liquid products. These are sold as healthy food supplements. In 2017, POM Wonderful bought another pomegranate company called Ruby Fresh.
The Resnick family, who owns POM Wonderful, also owns Paramount Farms. This company sells pistachios under the "Wonderful" brand. The "Wonderful Pistachios" logo also uses a heart instead of the "o" in "Wonderful." This is similar to the POM Wonderful logo.
The Pomegranate Fruit
The name "POM Wonderful" comes from a special type of pomegranate called "Wonderful." These pomegranates grow in central and southern San Joaquin Valley in California. This type of pomegranate is great for making juice. It has soft seeds, lots of water, and a taste like wine.
POM products are made from pomegranates grown in the company's own farms. They also get fruit from other farms nearby. The company uses its own special machines to get the juice from the pomegranates.
Research and Health Claims
POM Wonderful says it has spent a lot of money on research. This research looks at two main things. One part studies if pomegranate juice is good for your health. The other part checks the chemicals in pomegranate extracts and supplements.
The company often provides the juice for studies about health benefits. However, studies on POM's pills and liquid supplements mostly check their chemical makeup. They do not usually look at actual health benefits. Research has been done at places like UCLA and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. POM Wonderful has used these studies to suggest that their drinks and extracts can help with heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
In 2006, an animal rights group called PETA was upset with POM. This was because POM was funding animal tests to support its health claims. PETA even changed the company's logo to "POM Horrible." After many people complained, and some stores threatened to stop selling POM drinks, the company agreed to only fund studies that did not use animals. POM Wonderful said that their animal tests were helping people, but they changed their mind.
Rules and Lawsuits
Government Rules for Advertising
On February 23, 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a letter to POM Wonderful. The FDA said that POM Wonderful was advertising its juice as if it were a medicine.
For example, POM's website had a section called "Featured Scientific Studies." This section made health claims about prostate cancer, lowering cholesterol, and helping with colds. The FDA said that if a company wants to say its product can cure or treat diseases, then the product must go through strict testing, just like a medicine.
The FDA also said that POM's labels were not clear enough. POM claimed its juice was "full of antioxidants called phytochemicals." The FDA said that food labels need to be more specific about what nutrients are in the product.
Later, on September 27, 2010, another government group, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), also took action. The FTC said POM Wonderful made "false and unproven claims" about preventing or treating diseases. The FTC issued an order to stop POM from making these claims in the future.
POM Wonderful said that all their statements were true. They said they believed in honest advertising and wanted to work with the government to fix things. On May 22, 2012, a judge ruled that many of POM's claims were misleading. The judge ordered them to stop making those claims for 20 years.
In 2015, a court supported most of the FTC's order. The court said that many of POM's ads did not correctly show the science behind the health benefits. In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear POM's appeal. This meant the FTC's decision stood. The head of the FTC said that companies making serious health claims must have strong scientific proof.
Lawsuit Against Minute Maid
From 2008 to 2014, POM Wonderful had a lawsuit against The Coca-Cola Company's Minute Maid brand. POM Wonderful said that Minute Maid's "Pomegranate Blueberry Flavored Blend of five juices" was misleading. This was because the drink had only a tiny bit of pomegranate juice (0.3%) but a lot of apple juice (99.4%).
The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In June 2014, the Supreme Court decided that POM Wonderful could sue Coca-Cola for false advertising. This decision meant that companies can challenge misleading labels on food and drinks.
Movie About Advertising
POM Wonderful, its products, and its owner Lynda Resnick were shown in a 2011 movie. This movie was a documentary about how companies place their products in movies and TV shows. The film was called POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. POM Wonderful paid a lot of money to have its name in the movie's title.
