Sugar Farmers And Corn Industry Debate Who Can Name Themselves After Poison

You can put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig —

Last year, the Corn Refiners Association decided that the term “high fructose corn syrup” just didn’t have same catchy ring to it as “sugar.” The solution: re-brand HFCS as “corn sugar” and launch a marketing blitz to educate the public about the wonders of this freshly named, all-natural product. Now sugar farmers are fighting back to reclaim their good name–even though it has recently been tarnished.

A group of sugar refiners and farmers appealed to the U.S. District Court last week to end the corn sugar campaign on the grounds that it is false advertising (it is sneaky, to say the least). The group wants compensation for corrective advertising and to make up for lost profits, according to the AP. The Corn Refiners association asked the government last year for the go-ahead to use “corn sugar” on product labels–and then started using the term in advertising before getting permission. “Corn sugar” isn’t yet found on product labels, however.