Event Marketers: Take Note of Text Spam Class Action Lawsuit Against Coca-Cola

SMS/text messaging continues to be an effective marketing tool for event organizers but if you use this tool you must follow the law as failure to do so can be very expensive.

It’s been a while since we have looked at the important legal aspects of SMS marketing so we take a look at a court decision last week that allows plaintiffs to proceed with a text spam lawsuit against Coca-Cola.  The case is Robbins et al. v. Coca-Cola Co., case number 3:13-cv-00132, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.

Bryan Robbins and Marvin Feiges alleged that the soft-drink giant violated the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending them unwanted SMS ads for Coke Zero and other products.

Coca-Cola and its agents allegedly “directed the mass transmission of text messages to the cell phones nationwide of what they hoped were customers or potential customers,” plaintiffs allege in the lawsuit. Robbins added that he continued to receive messages even after replying “stop” to one of the texts.

Coca-Cola argued the lawsuit should be dismissed because the plaintiff’s allegations were too vague.  However, the court rejected this argument, and ruled that the case can move forward.

Coca-Cola is one of several marketers sued in recent years for allegedly violating the TCPA which prohibits sending unsolicited text messages and can impose fines up to $1,500 per violation.

In 2010, Encore covered what is arguably the seminal case in the text spam area: the $90 million class action lawsuit against publishing giant Simon & Schuster.

While these two cases are certainly different, the underlying points and key takeaways are not… follow the federal TCPA and industry best practices, or you may find yourself in court and face a substantial financial penalty!

Posted on May 28, 2013