Product disparagement

Producers and sellers can suffer serious losses when their products are given negative publicity, whatever the motives for that publicity may be.

It is illegal in several states of the USA to disparage certain food products. Food producers can sue anyone found to be spreading false and damaging information about products, whether processed meats or fresh broccoli. When a well-known television personality publicly announced she would not eat hamburgers because of her fear of the "mad cow" disease, she was sued by a rancher who claimed that her comment caused beef prices to drop for 2 months.