General Mills drops "100% Natural" claim from marketing

General Mills will be dropping the term "100% Natural" from its boxes of Nature Valley granola bars.Going forward, General Mills has agreed to a settlement which said that the labeling, advertising, or promotions of its products will now no longer use the “100% Natural Claims”.In 2012, consumers and advocacy groups filed four lawsuits against General Mills which stated that Nature Valley's "100 percent natural" products contained processed and genetically modified products and ingredients such as high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose monohydrate, maltodextrin and others.According to an article on Wall Street Journal, products on the shelves at some of the US stores now have taglines that read “made with 100% natural oats.”As consumers get more digitally savvy and aware of the products they are consuming, more companies have faced heat from the public.Earlier this year, beverage brand Red Bull was forced to give consumers US$10 back for false advertising. The company was accused of falsely marketing its product on the basis of improving concentration and reaction speeds. This claim lacks scientific support, according to authorities.This comes as the company complies to pay more than US$13 million after settling a US class action lawsuit in which the brand was accused of false advertising, said drinks industry publication BevNet.