Gatorade vs. Powerade

PepsiCo (PEP), maker of Gatorade, is suing Coca-Cola (KO), maker of Powerade. The accusations come down to Pepsi complaining thusly: The dubious benefits of your product are slightly more dubious than the dubious benefits of my product, so stop making your dubious claims.

Pepsi alleges false advertising, trademark dilution, deception, injury to business reputation, and unfair competition. Coke, according to Pepsi, is misleading consumers in its advertising of Powerade Ion4 by claiming that it, unlike Gatorade, is "the complete sports drink." Ads depict half a Gatorade bottle and read: "Don't settle for an incomplete sports drink."

Coke touts Powerade as containing four electrolytes, compared to Gatorade's two. Powerade includes calcium and magnesium as well as the sodium and potassium that Gatorade has.

According to the lawsuit, Powerade contains only "minuscule" amounts of the two additional electrolytes. "There is no evidence that the minute quantities of magnesium and calcium present in Powerade Ion4 make it superior to Gatorade in any way," according to the complaint.

The irony is that there is also no evidence that either drink does anything in particular for anyone. Both products are essentially a sham.

Sweating causes the loss of electrolytes, but for most people, that loss is so negligible as to be meaningless. Eating a banana or a carrot would be more than enough to replace them. For marathon runners or professional athletes who need to quickly restore electrolytes, there are many better sources, such as energy gels. A "sports drink" would work, too, but not as well.

Pepsi and Coke, though, don't aim Gatorade and Powerade only at marathon runners and professional athletes but at the public at large, which has no real use for them.

Pepsi wants a judge to put a stop to the Powerade campaign and wants "corrective" advertising and damages. The Ion4 campaign, according to the complaint, "a calculated, intentional strategy designed to falsely and viciously attack the readily identifiable market leader, Gatorade, in the hopes of unfairly gaining precious market share." In 2008, Gatorade had more than three-quarters of the market for dubious sports drinks.

Coke says it will defend the suit.