When you're Gwyneth Paltrow, you can post an Instagram video of what's in your fridge and make it onto ABC News, as just happened in recent days. The video, posted on Instagram by her Goop beauty products company a few weeks back, offers survey of her Sub Zero unit that Paltrow readily acknowledges was cleaned up for the shoot. So what does a well-connected, entrepreneurial, health & wellness-oriented celeb keep in the box? No surprise it contains several cans of "my favorite ice tea," EquiTea, since she's an investor, along with several Goop beauty products. Also visible on shelves and doors are several flavors of Olipop gut pops, Harmless Harvest coconut water, Guayaki yerba mate, La Croix and San Pellegrino sparkling waters, Celsius energy drink, Reed's ginger soda, Fever-Tree mixers, Three Trees, Califia Farms, Milkadamia and Rise plantmilks and Horizon Organic dairy milk.

Okay, there isn't much in common between bevs and shoes except that the best bev salespeople still expend a lot of shoe leather (oh, and Bombilla & Gourd cofounder Ariel Nelson went on to cofound men's shoemaker Jack Erwin after bev venture sputtered out). But Federal Trade Commission has gone after ecomm shoe biz this time as it sends message to broad world of marketers that it's not going to stand for the gaming of online reviews. Its target this time is Hey Dude, which is paying $1.95 mil to settle charges that it misled consumers by suppressing negative reviews, including more than 80% percent of reviews that failed to provide 4 or more stars out of a possible 5. Formerly going by Happy One, Hey Dude was acquired by Crocs in early 2022. Before Jun 2022, complaint alleges Hey Dude's written policies and procedures "instructed staff to publish certain types of reviews only if they were positive" and only started publishing all consumer reviews once it learned it was under investigation by agency. Fine also covers separate charges that co failed to let consumers cancel their orders when the co didn't ship merchandise on time.

Athletic Brewing is makin' headway in top international mkts to close out 2023 and beyond, adding lotsa placements in 4 leading Provincial Liquor Boards in Canada and inking UK's top craft distrib James Clay & Sons as exclusive importer there, ceo Bill Shufelt shared with Beer Marketer's Insights family of newsletters. That's as Athletic biz continues to hum in US, scan data shows, with $$ sales up 79% for 13 wks thru Aug 12 in Nielsen xAOC + liquor plus + c-store channels.

Do you like to break up your afternoons with a "non-fat, extra dry cinnamon triple-cherry chai latte with sweet persimmon fizzer, hold the foam"? If so, Peet's Coffee doesn't want you as a customer, as it makes clear in a new campaign dubbed "Coffee for coffee people" that sends up ostensible coffee lovers who're interested in every flavor except that of coffee itself. "Do you know what aisle the birthday cake blend is in?" asks a woman wandering with her partner thru what looks to be a tropical coffee plantation, addressing a worker in a 30-second spot. "You know the beans that taste like birthday cake so it's like drinking a birthday cake rather than a cup of coffee? We'd also take the rainbow sprinkle doughnut blend if you have it." "There is no way I'm drinking 'dark roast,'" adds her companion, disdainfully flashing air quotes. Turning to the camera, the Latino-accented worker declares, "Peet's doesn't make coffee beans that taste like birthday cake. But they do find the highest-quality beans and hand roast one batch at a time." "Can we get a manager?" the guy demands.

A2 Milk sent shares of its fellow New Zealand company Synlait Milk skidding to a record low after it said it was canceling exclusive manufacturing and supply rights for some of its infant milk formula products. "A2 Milk, which owns 19.83% of Synlait, issued the cancellation notices earlier in the day, saying Synlait's delivery performance during fiscal 2023 was below the required level for it to maintain such rights," Reuters reported yesterday. As Reuters noted, "removing Synlait's exclusivity will give A2 a chance to expand production of its English-label product at any facility at a time when one of its largest markets, China, introduces stringent regulations for infant formula." Recall that A2 just entered US market with its infant formula, starting in Meijer and Wegmans chains (BBI, Sep 13). Synlait said it's not as simple as that, arguing that dispute now must enter 20-business-day period of good faith talks between the disagreeing parties followed by arbitration. All told, A2's infant formula is a billion-dollar biz.

Hart Dairy, whose credo has been to use only grassfed, pasture-raised cows, has "temporarily paused" its retail sales under its brand name in order to focus entirely on B2B side of biz for now. Message on homepage of website advises visitors that "Our retail operations have been temporarily paused and we have shifted towards providing our grass-fed milk as an ingredient to other dairy brands, allowing us to expand our reach," even as works to increase size of its herd, without compromising its environmental and animal welfare standards. "We want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our customers for the loyal support they have shown us. We can't wait to get Hart Dairy milk back in everyone's fridge!" The grassfed pioneer based in Girard, Ga, had raised $20 mil Series A round led by KAL Investments in late 2021 (BBI, Dec 3 2021). It claims to be first pasteurized dairy cow milk to be certified as meeting Humane Farm Animal Care Program standards, devoting over a football field's worth of pasturage for every 2 cows.

While Heineken's US beyond beer biz is still small and struggling, co's investing further in the space overseas. Heineken UK acquired a "significant minority stake" in Served spirits RTDs, brand that's co-owned by pop star Ellie Goulding, co announced. Financial terms weren't disclosed, tho Heineken hopes strategic partnership will propel brand to a "leadership position" in UK's broader RTD mkt. Served offers range of vodka sodas and RTD cocktails using "natural and sustainably sourced ingredients" with real fruit as sweetener.

Another week, another new fed lawsuit claiming some state alc bev law violates the dormant commerce clause. This time the state is New York, the commodity is wine and the issue is self-distribution, a privilege afforded to in-state producers but not out-of-state producers. Notwithstanding the invocation of Benjamin Franklin or wholesaler consolidation, the complaint filed in a NY fed ct last wk follows the same familiar outline: if in-state producers are allowed an exemption from the 3-tier system, then out-of-state producers should be too.

"The past is never dead. It's not even past," novelist William Faulkner famously said. And those words certainly apply to Billy Busch's recent book called "Family Reins: The Extraordinary Rise and Epic Fall of an American Dynasty." Billy Busch, who was one of longtime AB ceo August A (Gussie) Busch Jr's 7 children with his 3d wife, grew up in splendor on Grant's Farm but had an (often) unhappy childhood, despite what he also calls his "fairy tale" and "magical" existence.