company industry foods founded 2002 founder stewart and lynda rae resnick headquarters los angeles california usa key people dominic r. engels president products fruit juices tea dietary supplements fresh pomegranates parent the wonderful company website pomwonderful.com pom wonderful llc is a private company which sells an eponymous brand of beverages and fruit extracts . it was founded in 2002 by the billionaire industrial agriculture couple stewart and lynda rae resnick . 1 through the wonderful company their holding company they are also affiliated with teleflora fiji water pesticide manufacturer suterra and paramount agribusiness . 2 as a private company pom wonderful does not disclose its profits . in 2006 newsweek has estimated that the company sales have increased from 12 million in 2003 to 91 million in that year . 3 in recent years the company has been the subject of government prosecution due to its illegal marketing schemes . 4 contents 1 products 1.1 the fruit 2 sponsorship of research 3 legal actions 3.1 ftc cease and desist order 3.2 minute maid lawsuit 4 the greatest movie ever sold 5 references 6 external reading products edit the company s main product is pomegranate juice which is sold in a trademark double bulb bottle with the product name pom featured in capital letters where the o is substituted by a heart symbol . the company also manufactures blended juice beverages such as pomegranate juice mixed with juices of blueberry cranberry cherry mango or tangerine and bottled tea and coffee based beverages of various flavors distributed in more conventional containers . 5 in addition to drinks the company sells pills and concentrated liquid products marketed as nutritional supplements . 6 7 while not part of pom wonderful itself another company owned by the same resnick family paramount farms has extended the wonderful brand to pistachios . 8 the wonderful pistachios logotype uses a heart instead of the o in wonderful similar to the pom in the pom wonderful logo . the fruit edit the brand name pom wonderful refers to the wonderful cultigen of pomegranate which is grown in the central and southern san joaquin valley of central california . 9 it is the leading commercial variety in california being well suited for juicing with its soft seeds high water content and wine like flavor . 10 pom branded products are produced from fruit obtained from their own corporate orchards and other orchards in the same area . the company employs a proprietary process in their own facilities to mechanically extract juice for various pomegranate based products . 11 sponsorship of research edit pom wonderful makes claims in promotional materials to have spent tens of millions of dollars for research . there are two broad types of research being sponsored and published . one type regards the proposed health benefits of pomegranate juice the other type regards chemical analysis and bio availability of pomegranate extracts and supplements . pomegranate juice in general is the actual subject of its published sponsored research regarding health benefits though pom typically supplies the juice to the investigators of the study . published sponsored research regarding pom s extract products pills and liquid concentrates deal only with chemical analysis and bio availability of said products without examining any health benefits . 12 research has been conducted at various research institutions including ucla university of naples italy technion institute israel and the university of wisconsin madison . 13 the company has promoted these studies as indicating that consumers of their beverages and extracts will receive a wide range of health benefits against various chronic diseases such as heart disease cancer diabetes and erectile dysfunction . 14 in 2006 pom became the target of peta for funding laboratory experiments on animals to promote health claims related to its pomegranate beverages . one such experiment sought to examine a possible correlation between pomegranates and erectile dysfunction by inducing the disorder in live rabbits . in their campaign peta had rebranded the company s logo as pom horrible . after receiving petitions from peta supporters and threats from whole foods and other retailers who said they would pull pom s drinks from store shelves if pom wonderful continued to fund experiments on animals the company agreed to only fund non animal studies . nevertheless pom wonderful stated that their animal tests were helping to save human lives and could have benefited its customers . 15 16 legal actions edit ftc cease and desist order edit on february 23 2010 the u.s. food and drug administration fda informed the company in a warning letter that pom wonderful was promoting pom wonderful 100 % pomegranate juice for conditions that cause the product to be a drug . 4 17 examples of unapproved labeling cited in the warning letter come from a section of pom s website titled featured scientific studies which contained health claims regarding prostate cancer erectile dysfunction reducing ldl cholesterol promote ing a healthy heart and prostate reduce ing the length and severity of colds ... shown to slow prostate tumor growth particularly beneficial among quite a few others . fda contends that if the manufacturer desires to market its products with claims for the cure mitigation treatment or prevention of disease the product is subject to the typical scientific rigor of the drug approval process to achieve such claims . 18 pom s labeling as a food is also criticized in the letter due to a product claim of being full of antioxidants called phytochemicals and having uniquely high levels of powerful antioxidants . such nutrient content claims on food must have a scientifically validated dietary reference intake value and the names of such nutrients included . simply using the terms antioxidants and phytochemicals is not specific enough for food nutrient labeling requirements because phytochemicals in pomegranate juice have not yet been defined with actual physiological properties in humans . on september 27 2010 the federal trade commission issued an administrative complaint against pom wonderful saying it had made false and unsubstantiated claims that their products will prevent or treat heart disease prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction . 19 the complaint is a legal order intended to prevent future law violations by pom wonderful . pom is quoted as responding that all statements made in connection with pom products are true ... and as strong advocates of honest labeling and fair advertising we are looking forward to working with the agency to resolve this matter . 20 the fda warning letter makes it clear that it expects pom to correct deficiencies in your products or ... labeling within 15 days . on may 22 2012 chief administrative law judge michael chappell ruled after a hearing that the company s claims were deceptive 21 and issued a cease and desist order effective for 20 years . 22 the greater weight of the persuasive expert testimony demonstrates that there is insufficient competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate claims that the pom products treat prevent or reduce the risk of erectile dysfunction or that they are clinically proven to do so . 22 pom wonderful shall not make any representation in any manner expressly or by implication including through the use of a product name endorsement depiction illustration trademark or trade name about the health benefits performance or efficacy of any covered product unless the representation is nonmisleading . 22 the may 22 2012 administrative law judge upheld two of pom s positions 1 any fda pre approval requirement would constitute unnecessary overreaching and that 2 more stringent double blind randomized placebo controlled studies were not necessary . 23 24 25 in january 2015 the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit upheld most of the ftc s 2010 order . 26 27 the appellate court said that many of pom s ads mischaracterized the scientific evidence concerning the health benefits of pom s products with regard to those diseases . 28 minute maid lawsuit edit see also pom wonderful llc v. coca cola co. from 2008 through 2014 pom litigated against the coca cola company s subsidiary minute maid . 29 the lawsuit claimed that the name of the product called minute maid pomegranate blueberry flavored blend of five juices was misleading because it contained 0.3 % pomegranate juice and 99.4 % apple juice . 30 31 the case went to the u.s. supreme court which decided in june 2014 that a lawsuit for false advertising claims could be pursued against coca cola saying competitors may bring lanham act claims like pom s challenging food and beverage labels regulated by the fdca . 32 legal analysts anticipate several more years of litigation on issues not argued in the supreme court such as cause and magnitude of financial or brand injury to pom wonderful resulting from the minute maid product . 33 the greatest movie ever sold edit the company product executives and owner lynda resnick were featured in a 2011 documentary about product placement marketing and advertising in movies and tv shows . the film was entitled pom wonderful presents the greatest movie ever sold . pom agreed to pay one million dollars subject to certain conditions for above the title billing on the film . 34 references edit resnick lynda 2009 . rubies in the orchard . doubleday . isbn 978 0 385 52578 7 . democratic lawmakers call on senator feinstein to retract water proposal . caivn . 2010 . retrieved 2010 02 20 . murr andrew 2006 08 07 . a winning equation . newsweek . retrieved 2009 03 20 . a b starling s march 3 2010 . fda says pom wonderful antioxidant claims not so wonderful . nutraingredients.com . retrieved march 6 2010 . hitting the shelves a twist on energy drinks february 2009 . 2009 02 01 . retrieved 2009 11 04 . the antioxidant supersecret of pomx . pom wonderful llc . 2007 . archived from the original on 2008 04 15 . retrieved 2008 09 02 . posell fiona 2006 07 10 . published research on pomx shows similar health benefits to pomegranate juice . retrieved 2008 09 02 . berfield susan 2010 11 11 . a pistachio farmer pom wonderful and the ftc . bloomberg businessweek . retrieved 2011 12 07 . purvis andrew 2005 12 11 . pomegranate power . the guardian . london . retrieved 2008 09 02 . pomegranate fruit facts . 1997 . retrieved 2010 03 04 . sellers tracy 2006 12 06 . consumers develop a passion for all things pomegranate . retrieved 2008 09 02 . research . pom wonderful llc . 2007 . archived from the original on 2008 04 08 . retrieved 2008 09 02 . the science of pom wonderful . pom wonderful llc . 2008 . archived from the original on 2008 06 12 . retrieved 2008 09 02 . holmgren pam july 2 2007 . pom wonderful 100 % pomegranate juice may improve erectile dysfunction . retrieved 2008 09 02 . goodman brenda 31 may 2007 . coca cola and pepsico agree to curb animal tests . new york times . retrieved 10 february 2015 . komp catherine 19 january 2007 . juice maker caves to pressure gives up animal testing . news standard . retrieved 10 february 2015 . pom wonderful . u.s. food and drug administration . 2010 . retrieved 2010 03 04 . pom wonderful . the fda s drug review process ensuring drugs are safe and effective . 2010 . retrieved 2010 02 22 . federal trade commission 2010 09 27 . ftc complaint charges deceptive advertising by pom wonderful . federal trade commission . retrieved 2010 11 20 . neuman william 2010 03 03 . f.d.a. cracks down on health claims by nestl and others . new york times . retrieved 2010 03 04 . judge pom deceptively marketed juice ; associated press may 22 2012 link to report on abc news a b c judge says pom wonderful s advertising is misleading article