There have been no shortage of headlines recounting the legal kerfuffle unfolding over the definition of mayonnaise.
Global food giant Unilever, which owns the ubiquitous Hellmann's brand, is suing Hampton Creek, the maker of of Just Mayo, an egg-free spread made from peas, sorghum and other plants.
Hampton Creek's mission is to make foods that are healthy and grown sustainably, using less water and land than traditional animal-based products. (We profiled the start-up in 2013.)
The headlines have been entertaining. FORTUNE dubbed the fight the "Mayonnaise Wars" and The Wall Street Journal quipped "Hellmann's Seeks Justice vs. Just Mayo."
At the crux of the kerfuffle is Unilever's assertion that Hampton Creek's labels are misleading. The company points to a decades-old legal definition set by the Food and Drug Administration that specifies that mayonnaise must contain eggs.
"Our Hellmann's brand is made from real eggs," a Unilever spokesperson wrote to us in a statement, and "we simply wish to protect both consumers from being misled and also our brand."
"We think this is silly," Hampton Creek CEO Josh Tetrick tells us. He points out that his product uses the name "mayo," not mayonnaise. But he's preparing to fight back with a counter-suit if Unilever doesn't drop its suit against his company. "We're in the process of preparing [the suit] now," Tetrick says.
While Just Mayo's market share is still small, it is being sold by major retailers from Walmart to Whole Foods. And it's typically marketed on the same condiment shelves as competing mayonnaise brands.
The legal battle over mayonnaise labeling may be technical in nature. But marketing experts say it all boils down to branding.
"Companies protect their brand at all cost," says John Stanton, a professor of food marketing at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. If Unilever's lawyers can use decades' old regulations defining what constitutes mayonnaise to protect their brand's market share, they will do it.
But it's possible that this strategy has backfired. Consumer sentiment seems squarely behind the new kid on the block, not the Big Food giant.
More than 25,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org started by celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern titled "Stop Bullying Sustainable Food Companies."
"If I was Just Mayo," says Stanton, "I'd be sitting back and saying, 'You know, I'm getting more attention than I could have ever paid for!' "
And this publicity could bring new consumers to the start-up brand that's looking to stand out in a crowded marketplace.
So, given all the public reaction to the lawsuit, is it Unilever's Hellmann's that may end up with egg on its face?
Yep, pretty much, says Eloy Trevino, a brand-building expert at Prophet, a strategic brand and marketing consultancy firm.
"Nobody likes to see the big conglomerate multinational company, with all of the money and all of the lawyers, beat down the little man," Trevino says.
If he were advising Unilever, Trevino says he'd tell the company to think more about its purpose.
"Today, consumers are gravitating toward and becoming advocates for brands with a strong brand purpose," he says.
When it comes to Hellmann's, Trevino tells us Unilever should try to play to its strength: They were one of the originators of mayonnaise.
"Anytime you have a brand dating back 100 years, there's a ton of trust, there's a ton of equity," Trevino says, which is worth a lot.
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Transcript
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
We are really spreading the news around this morning. This next report is about mayonnaise and a basic question - what is it? The answer may determine the outcome of a lawsuit that feels like a struggle between David and Goliath. The nation's leading brand, Hellmann's, is suing an upstart known as Just Mayo. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.
ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE: Several years back, a young entrepreneur named Josh Tetrick, who had more charisma than cash, decided to take on the mayo industry. His strategy? Get rid of the eggs and reinvent the spread using ground-up peas.
JOSH TETRICK: Just Mayo is a mayo product that uses plants instead of chicken eggs. And that's a part of the broader philosophy of the company to do food a little bit differently in a way that's hopefully significantly more sustainable - less water, less emission.
AUBREY: And maybe better for you, at least that's part of his pitch. Meanwhile, Unilever, the global food giant that owns Hellmann's, was sitting pretty. They were doing well the way they'd always done well.
(SOUNDBITE OF HELLMANN'S AD)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: (Singing) The family gathers and baby's here.
AUBREY: In this old TV ad, a jar of Hellmann's mayonnaise sits front and center on a fancy holiday table.
(SOUNDBITE OF HELLMANN'S AD)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Everything was great, grandma.
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: (Singing) It wouldn't be home without Hellmann's.
AUBREY: This is the way mayonnaise was marketed in the past, but Tetrick says his product Just Mayo is about the future. And now he's doing pretty well. Just Mayo is on the shelves of some major supermarket chains from Wal-Mart to Whole Foods. But Unilever says there's a problem here. Two weeks ago, they filed a lawsuit pointing out that the Food and Drug Administration's legal definition of mayonnaise is a spread that contains eggs. Just Mayo has no eggs. In a statement sent to us by Unilever, the company says, quote, "we simply wish to protect both consumers from being misled and also our brand."
JOHN STANTON: Sometimes it seems almost silly, but companies protect their brand at all costs.
AUBREY: That's John Stanton, a professor of food marketing at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. He says if Unilever's lawyers can use decades-old regulations defining what constitutes mayonnaise in order to protect their brand's market share, they'll do it.
STANTON: There's no question that Hellmann's is swinging a sledgehammer to kill an ant. And if I was the Just Mayo, I'd be sitting back saying, you know? I'm getting more attention than I could've ever paid for.
AUBREY: The media has dubbed this The Mayonnaise War. There have been headlines such as "Hold The Mayo." And brand consultant Eloy Trevino of the Prophet group in Chicago says this public fight might just leave Hellmann's with egg on its face.
ELOY TREVINO: When you look at way the story's unfolded, it just looks like sour grapes by a big company against a brand that has a great purpose and a great product.
AUBREY: He says if he were advising Unilever, he'd tell them to think more about their purpose.
TREVINO: Today consumers are gravitating toward and becoming advocates for brands with a strong brand purpose.
AUBREY: And Trevino says with Hellmann's, Unilever does have a really strong brand.
TREVINO: Any time you have a brand dating back a hundred years, there's a ton of trust. There's a ton of equity.
AUBREY: And he says that's worth a lot. Now, the mayonnaise war may not be ending anytime soon. The company behind Just Mayo is fighting back and plans to file a countersuit in the coming weeks. Allison Aubrey, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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