Photos from Anna Marquez's lawsuit
Photos of Fireball Cinnamon and Fireball Cinnamon Whisky, included in Anna Marquez's lawsuit.
Earlier this month an Illinois woman called BS on those cheap miniature bottles of Fireball Cinnamon liquor that have become ubiquitous at grocery store checkout lanes, in liquor stores and in the pockets of travelers about to get kicked off of airplanes.
Anna Marquez is suing Sazerac Company, Inc, the maker of Fireball Cinnamon, in federal court. The suit claims that the product's label is so similar to that of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky it is intentionally confusing, leading consumers to believe that Fireball Cinnamon contains whiskey when in fact it does not.
Both products' labels feature the word "fireball" in all capitals above a flaming demon spitting fire from its mouth. One product says "cinnamon whisky" and the other says simply "cinnamon."
"The bottles appear identical but for the word 'whisky' on the front label, which most purchasers seeking alcohol will not even detect," the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also cites liquor stores reporting that sales of the original Fireball whiskey have declined as customers say they prefer to buy what they incorrectly believe to be the same product for a lower price.
Actually, the fine print of the Fireball Cinnamon's label does contain the word "whisky." In what the suit calls a clever turn of phrase, the $0.99 product's packaging says it contains “Malt Beverage With Natural Whisky & Other Flavors.”
However if your high school English teacher, perhaps hungover on faux-whiskey himself, asked you to diagram that sentence you'd realize that "whisky" is not being used as a noun but as an adjective to modify flavors.
This is not to say that Fireball Cinnamon doesn't contain alcohol. The FAQ section on Fireball's website says alcohol content depends on if the Fireball Cinnamon is the malt-based or wine-based version of the product, which seems to only further confuse the issue.
Marquez is seeking class-action status for the lawsuit in Illinois and 11 other states.
Alas, Missouri is not among them.
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