Grape board's ads immune to legal challenge

California can require grape growers to pay fees for statewide ads that promote their product as a healthy alternative to ice cream and French fries, despite some growers' objections to messages that imply all grapes are equal, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the California Table Grape Commission's billboard and radio advertising campaigns that tout fresh California grapes as nutritious snacks. Growers pay $11 million a year to support the work of the Fresno-based commission, which also includes crop research and trade negotiations, officials said. A group of growers led by Delano Farms sued in 1996, saying they objected to paying for the ads. Delano, which then paid the commission $600,000 annually, said the messages hurt its effort to promote its own brand by suggesting that table grapes all have the same quality. The appeals court revived the suit in 2003 and said the growers could try to prove the state violated their constitutional rights by making them subsidize a message they disagreed with. On Friday, however, the court said the suit was doomed by a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld the federal government's promotional campaign for the beef industry...read more