Natural Food Chef & Celebrity Bethenny Frankel in Trouble for Claiming Skinnygirl Cocktails Are All Natural & Preservative Free

Whole Foods has recently pulled reality star, Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Cocktails off their shelves after it was discovered her "all natural" claims aren't true.  A class action lawsuit has also been filed claiming consumers were mislead by their all natural claims.

Bethenny's website claims Skinnygirl Margaritas contain "all natural flavors, lightly sweetened with agave nectar and made with premium Blue Agave clear Tequila, Skinnygirl^TM is the margarita you can trust." She also claims it is, "a low-calorie, naturally prepared margarita for people like her, who are concerned about calories and ingredients."  According to the Wall Street Journal, "Ms. Frankel said her margarita has only natural ingredients, with no preservatives or artificial colors; it is lightly sweetened with agave nectar."  Apparently it also says "All Natural" on the label.  I guess she forgot to mention the artificial preservative.  

This is particularly shocking because Bethenny is a natural foods chef which implies that her focus is on real, natural food and likely also natural and holistic living.  It makes me wonder about the skin care line she is formulating (or paying someone to formulate for her).

It is unknown exactly what the preservative is but it's assumed to be sodium benzoate, which is a synthetic chemical.  When sodium benzoate combines with ascorbic acid (vitamin c) it creates benzene, a known carcinogen.  While there likely isn't ascorbic acid in Skinnygirl, it could still combine with ascorbic acid in other foods and drinks you consume or personal care products you use.  Sodium benzoate is used in a wide variety of foods and beverages, so you can't just take the levels in Skinny Girl into consideration when looking at the health effects.  The long term risks of sodium benzoate exposure are unknown.

The fact that a blended drink needs a preservative isn't necessarily the problem.  Bacteria grows in liquid, so liquids need to be preserved if they are going to have a long shelf life.  Also, when you have a product that isn't consumed in one serving you introduce air and bacteria every time you open it.  So I'm not surprised the product is preserved.  There are natural alternatives to sodium benzoate if they really wanted to have a all natural product, but it's more expensive.  They also could have left it unpreserved and put an expiration date on it like on juice and milk.

I do wonder about the alcohol content because I would assume the alcohol would preserve the product.  Since Skinnygirl is intended to be a low calorie beverage, I guess one of the ways the cut calories was by cutting the alcohol content.

The problem isn't so much that there's a preservative, but Bethenny Frankel and Beam Global Spirits & Wine, which recently purchased the Skinnygirl cocktails for a reported $120 million lied, promoting the products as all natural when the reality is that only the flavors are all natural (assuming they aren't lying about that).  And, since there is no legal requirement to list the ingredients and there is no legal definition of all natural there was no way for customers to verify their claims.  

Why Whole Foods would stock a product with no ingredients without verifying ingredients in the first place is a mystery to me.  As a brand that's taken a lot of slack for their standards over recent years until they recently revamped them, I would assume they'd want to verify ingredients on products they stock to give consumers confidence in their standards.  Did they just assume a natural foods chef would only create natural products?  Did they get caught up in Bethenny's fame?

Neither the Whole Foods nor the Skinnygirl websites mention the product being pulled.  However, Beam Spirits & Wine has clearly taken some heat and is concerned about it's reputation and possibly the lawsuit as it has posted the following statement on the Skinnygirl website:

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON SKINNYGIRL MARGARITA: JOINT STATEMENT OF BETHENNY FRANKEL AND BEAM GLOBAL SPIRITS & WINE

Skinnygirl Margarita meets the hightest quality standars.  As Bethenny says, "I wouldn't sell anything that I don't drink myself."

In today's litigious society, nothing is surprising.  The litigation filed in reltion to the labeling of Skinnygirl Margarita is frivolous.  We will defend our case vigourously, and we are fully confident we will prevail.

Our focus is in continuing to build the fast-growing Skinnygirl cocktails brand and to bring new innovations to consumers looking for delicious, low-calorie ready-to-serve cocktails.  Skinnygirl is made with natural ingredients.  The margarita product formulation includes a minuscule amount of a widely used FDA-approved ingredient that protects quality and is found on virtually every aisle of the supermarket in popular brands of beverages, food and everyday items.

Together we routinely review the marketing, innovation and packaging of the Skinnygirl coctails line.  Amoung our recent joint decisions was to introduce consisten labeling across the expanding Skinnygirl cocktails platform.  While the current margarita label is consisten with U.S. federal regulations, modifying the language on the margarita label to say "Natural Flavor" will align the labeling with the more recently introduced Skinnygirl Sangria.  This has been in the works for weeks and should appear in coming months.

Bethenny also posted a statement on her website:

Setting the Record Straight

There has been a lot of coverage in the media about my Skinnygirl Margarita cocktail.

We would not sell anything that I don't personally drink. I'm a natural foods chef and health is a top priority for me and my family. The Skinnygirl Margarita is made with natural ingredients and its label is consistent with U.S. federal regulations, which is why it is carried in stores nationwide and continues to fly off the shelves.

I built my brand on trust and honesty. I don't take lightly obvious attempts to put my integrity in question. I will always answer your questions and concerns directly and truthfully.

Legally, yes, they are not in violation of the law because they are not required to list ingredients, nor is there a legal definition of the term "all natural."  However, ethically, yes, they absolutely deceived customers, not just by claiming the product is all natural, but also by publicily stating that there no preservatives in the product.  This is the grounds for the lawsuit and the basis upon which they will argue. 

And from a purely marketing standpoint, when you say you can trust your product, make absolutely sure there are no lies, omissions or misrepresentations of the truth that will come to bite you on the butt later.

So what do you think? Is meeting FDA regulations enough?  Is Skinnygirl really "the margarita you can trust?"  Has Bethenny really built her brand on trust and honesty? Will you buy Skinnygirl cocktails?  Tell me what you think!

Photo Credit: Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic