This is a sponsored guest post written by a Press Release on behalf of PBM Products. Post powered by Sponzai.

GORDONSVILLE, VA., December 2 , 2009—PBM Products, LLC, a leading infant formula company that supplies store-brand infant formulas to Walmart, Sam’s Club, Target, Kroger, Walgreens, and other retailers, has received a favorable jury verdict and a $13.5 million damages award in its false advertising lawsuit against Mead Johnson & Co., the operating subsidiary of Mead Johnson Nutrition Company (NYSE: MJN) (“Mead Johnson”), the makers of the national-brand Enfamil® LIPIL® Infant Formula. Mead Johnson is 83 percent-owned by Bristol-Myers Squibb.

PBM’s lawsuit claimed that Mead Johnson engaged in false and misleading campaigns against PBM’s competing store-brand of infant formulas, suggesting they do not provide the same nutrition as Mead Johnson’s brands. PBM’s store-brand infant formulas cost up to 50 percent less than Enfamil® LIPIL®. The $13.5 million in damages awarded by the jury in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia is one of the largest damages awards ever for a false advertising case.

“This decision by a jury of the people confirms that Mead Johnson’s ads have been false in suggesting that there is a nutritional difference between our store-brand formula products and their products, when in fact the only major difference is price,” said PBM CEO Paul B. Manning. “Despite Mead Johnson’s scare tactics, parents are assured that PBM’s formula products are as high quality and nutritious as Mead Johnson’s.”

U.S. District Court Judge James R. Spencer issued his written rulings yesterday following the November 10^th jury verdict. Judge Spencer’s written rulings permanently enjoined Mead Johnson from making any false statements concerning PBM’s infant formula, including the claims Mead Johnson previously made in Enfamil advertising that “It may be tempting to try a less expensive store brand, but only Enfamil LIPIL is clinically proven to improve brain and eye development,” and “there are plenty of other ways to save on baby expenses without cutting back on nutrition.”  The Court also ordered Mead Johnson to retrieve from the public domain all advertising or promotional materials containing these or any other false claims about PBM’s store brand infant formula. 

The details of the decision and the complaint are posted online in full at:

· http://www.pbmproducts.com/docs/Order_Laches.pdf

· http://www.pbmproducts.com/docs/PBM_Complaint_MJ_III_LIPIL.pdf

The nutritional supplements under examination in the case are two fats, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and ARA (arachidonic acid), which Mead Johnson calls “LIPIL®” solely for marketing purposes and touts as promoting infant brain and eye development. PBM’s claim focused on Mead Johnson’s direct mailing to more than 1.6 million parents of an alarming blurry picture of a child’s cartoon duck next to a clear picture of the same image which suggested that anything other than the Enfamil LIPIL® blend of ingredients is inferior and will result in poor eye and brain development. Other parts of the false advertising campaign consist of statements that only Enfamil LIPIL has been proven to confer visual and mental benefits on infants, and store-brand formulas are a “cut-back in nutrition” compared to Enfamil.

PBM successfully argued that these advertisements were false and misleading especially since PBM store- brand infant formulas have the same nutrients at the same levels as Enfamil. PBM infant formulas are formulated to contain DHA and ARA, and are sourced from the same supplier in amounts which equal or exceed the DHA and ARA in Mead Johnson’s Enfamil LIPIL®.

This decision marks the third time PBM Products has sued Mead Johnson for false advertising claims. On the prior occasions Mead Johnson admitted that it made false claims about PBM’s products. It is also the first false advertising case to focus on the issue of DHA and ARA nutritional ingredients in formula, which were introduced into the market in 2003 and have become a staple in recent years by many brands as key components for infant development.

“This jury verdict should send a significant and clear message to Mead Johnson about the way it conducts marketing and advertising for its brands,” said Manning. “This lawsuit also demonstrates our complete commitment to defending our products and the valuable brands of our retail partners.”

“As a parent and supporter of children’s medical research, I take a personal responsibility in assuring our customers that the products we produce are healthy and nutritionally equivalent to brand names like Enfamil® LIPIL®. It is important, especially now, for parents to know that there are lower priced yet highly nutritious store-brand formulas that will provide the same benefit to their children as any national brand name formula product,” Manning added.

The U.S. infant formula market is estimated at $3.4 billion and the global market is estimated at $7.9 billion.

All of PBM’s formulas, and for that matter all of U.S. infant formulas, are subject to the exacting standards of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pursuant to the Infant Formula Act of 1980. This legislation vested FDA with the authority to ensure that all infant formula products sold in the United States provide the necessary levels of identified nutrients required for the growth of healthy babies. For more information, visit this FDA link.

PBM Products was represented by the law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP. Partners from the firm’s advertising practice, Harold P. Weinberger and Jonathan M. Wagner in New York, led the team.

About PBM

PBM is privately owned and based in Gordonsville, VA. PBM companies specialize in manufacturing, distributing, and marketing consumer food, nutritional, and pharmaceutical products. For more information, visit www.pbmproducts.com.

Enfamil® LIPIL® are registered trademarks of Mead Johnson & Co.

As you may have heard by now Shellie Ross, @Military_Mom, lost her precious 2 year old son Bryson in a tragic accident on Monday. In the moments after the accident Shellie reached out to her online friends for prayers and support and many of us have been praying ever since. The Online Mom has organized a Twitter event and fundraiser to help with the cost of the box Shellie has selected for Bryson’s ashes. You can read more about tonight’s event here. The event will take place on Twitter tonight from 9-10pm EST. Even if you can’t attend you can give by using the ChipIn widget on The Online Mom’s website. If you can’t give please pray for Shellie and the rest of her family as they grieve the loss of Bryson.

I am always looking for creative ways to give back to my community but with finances tighter than ever there is less to give this holiday season. 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has come up with a way to share Christmas love with friends and family AND give to Toys for Tots at the same time.

Visit the 1-800-FLOWERS.COM Facebook page and send a virtual Secret Santa warm fuzzy to all of your friends and family members. They won’t know who it came from until reveal day, December 21st! You and the recipient will receive a 15% off discount code for sending or opening your gifts, this way you can send even more holiday cheer.

1-800-FLOWERS.COM will donate $5,000 to Toys for Tots if warm fuzzy Secret Santa gift is sent 10,000 times, so have some fun and send some warm fuzzies today.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Competico. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you already taken lots of holiday photos? Photos of your kid’s Christmas play, picking out the tree, the decorations on you house, your family all lighting the Hanukkah candles together or even your creative Christmas card photo could earn you $50,000! Competico, the leading online photo competition website in the world, offers its members the chance to compete in and vote for exciting photo competitions.

Competico’s Winter Holiday Photo Contest 2009 is accepting entries now through January 12, 2010. The entry fee is $100 per photo but, if you enter before December 17th 2009, 9:00pm EST and have the opportunity to enter an additional holiday photo for this contest for FREE! That’s TWO photos for the price of one!

After you enter, encourage your friends and other Competico players to place their vote for your photo as the one they like most. Every vote counts! Winners will be based on the combination of votes from other Competico players and votes from the Judging Panel. After the contest close date, the Judging Panel will review all photo submissions, place their votes on their favorite holiday photo and combine their votes with votes placed by Competico users and  the winners will be announced on January 15th 2010.

Choose your photos and enter today, you could start the new year $50,000 richer! Good luck!

Sunday dawned cold but not wet. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom at 6:30am. They brought us to the hub in groups of about 100 people. The Jonas Brothers would be singing on the Castle Forecourt Stage and then
walking through the crowd to the hub stage all while singing “Summertime Anthem”. We were placed in the gold ring in front of the castle just to the left of center. We learned our choreography and waited while other groups were brought in, placed and trained.

Our view of the hub stage from the gold ring.

We waited, then practiced some more, waited, then they started checking out the camera shots. (We had a camera directly in front of us so…who knows, you may just see us Christmas morning!) We did several more practices and then they started recording shots of us dancing in this pseudo-flash mob. Finally at around 10am the Jonas Brothers arrived and briefed on how the shoot would go. Then we did several takes with the Jonas Brothers singing the entire song. I lost count of how many takes there were. At about 11:30am we were finally finished, hot (the sun had come out and it warmed up significantly), tired and very hungry.

The Disney Cast Members tried to herd everyone to Main Street to be in the audience for the taping of the parade but most of the people left to hit the rides and get lunch, which is exactly what we did. We enjoyed a lunch at Pecos Bill’s and rode a few rides before we headed back to Main Street USA via the Walt Disney World Railway. The area where they were filming were jam packed so we didn’t bother to fight the crowd. We did however get to see Kelly Ripa being her crazy self. While they were filming part of the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Parade Kelly was dancing around and my husband captured this video.

After watching some of the Christmas parade taping we rode a few more rides before catching the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade. Once the parade was over we headed out of the park. We had a wonderful weekend but, all good things must come to an an end.

Don’t forget to watch the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade on ABC, check local listings for times.

My obsession with Friendly’s Restaurant is well documented It is now soaring to a new height…I am hosting a Tweet Up at the Friendly’s Restaurant on University Parkway in Sarasota, FL this Friday 12/18/09 at 7:00pm!

This all started with a pre-Thanksgiving discussion on Twitter with my friend Zannaland about our favorite New England brands that we can’t get in Florida, she lives about 1 1/2 hours north of me and stated that when she is really craving Friendly’s Ice Cream she goes to the one in Sarasota…the one near my house. Next thing I know MommyMusings and Mom2zandjsquare are each piping up on Twitter saying that is their Friendly’s Restaurant-we Friendy’s fans take this rather personally . So, this discussion began the planning for this Friday’s Tweet Up. While we were Tweeting EatAtFriendlys offered to send me a Friendly’s gift card, which I will be giving away as a door prize at the Tweet Up.

I already know what I am going to order on Friday too! I am going to have the new Peppermint Stick Lava Cake. It is perfect for the holiday with a warm chocolate cake filled with our famous hot fudge, surrounded by three scoops of our Peppermint Stick ice cream, covered with more hot fudge, whipped topping, green and red peppermint candy pieces, and a cherry.

While I’m there I’m also going to pick up some Friendly’s Gift Cards to give as Christmas gifts. Did you know that when you buy $25 of gift cards at a Friendly’s Store you get a $5.00 gift card free? Bonus!

If you are on Twitter and are in the Sarasota, FL area or if you want to come to visit please join us on Friday night at 7pm. If you are planning on coming please RSVP in the McLinky below. Put your 1st name and your Twitter name in the title ie. Cindy @MomMaven and then in the URL put your Twitter URL ie. http://twitter.com/mommaven
I can’t wait to meet you Friday!

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Quiltcreator. All opinions are 100% mine.

I love beautiful handmade quilts. Quilts show amazing artistry and workmanship. I live in an area with a large Amish population and it is fairly easy for me to find a quality handmade quilt locally, not everyone is so fortunate.
I have often thought about learning how to quilt, though I can’t sew a straight hem so I doubt quilting would be the hobby. I love the creative process of quilting, finding just the right fabrics to coordinate with each other and organizing the actual pattern.

I found www.quiltcreator.com, it is a website that allows you to select the quilt size, pattern and color scheme. Then, with the help of the webiste, you get to choose the placement of the different fabrics to create a one-of-a-kind quilt. Below is a screenshot of the baby quilt I created.

I chose the Tumbling Blocks Infant Quilt using the Flea Market Fabric Theme. I them had to choose 6 of the 16 fabrics in the Flea Market Theme. Using the simple drag-and-drop technology on the website I was able to move around my fabric choices until I was totally happy with their placement. You can also choose which fabric to use for the backing, if you want the quilt monogrammed and even what color thread you want used. My quilt would cost $154.99, not bad for a custom designed quilt (that I didn’t have to sew myself).

The quilts are handcrafted, 100% cotton overfilled with 250g of cotton (while standard quilts are usually 170g/cotton). Also, Quiltcreator is one of the few companies allowed by Cotton Inc. to carry the All Natural Cotton Inc. Logo. Quiltcreator give 1% of its proceeds to 1% for the Planet, an environmental charity.

Check out Quiltcreator for a very unique gift, and use the Free Shipping code Ship4Free .

It’s holiday party season – time to celebrate all of the exciting winter holidays with our friends and loved ones. Our mailboxes are flooded with invitations to parties and dinners and other holiday get-togethers. With these parties come food, fellowship, gifts, and in many cases, festive alcoholic drinks.

In 2008, nearly 12,000 people in the U.S. were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes – and during the periods around Christmas and New Year’s, this number was particularly high, with 316 people killed in alchol-impaired driving crashes. In 2007, 162,493 women were arrested for a DUI, an increase of almost 29% since 1998. You can’t help but wonder if lives could have been saved if people thought twice before getting behind the wheel. With the holidays approaching, it’s important that drivers be reminded about the dangers of buzzed driving. Who knows…it could save a life.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) and the Ad Council are asking everyone to drive smart this holiday season and to pledge not to drive buzzed. To learn more about what you can do to prevent Buzzed Driving follow Buzzed Driving on Twitter and Facebook. You can also visit the Buzzed Driving website where you can sign a pledge to not drive buzzed, play an interactive game which demonstrates the difference between buzzed and drunk, and hear personal stories from people who have driven buzzed.

Join us Tuesday, December 15th from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. EST for a sobering discussion about #BuzzedDriving on Twitter.

While at holiday events, it’s easy to lose track of a drink here or there – but this can be fatal. This holiday season, keep you and your family safe by spreading this message. I don’t drink alcohol so I know I won’t be driving buzzed this holiday season. I hope you won’t either. Have a safe and happy holiday and remember that buzzed driving IS drunk driving.

The winner of the $25 American Express Gift Card is….Kim! Congratulations! What a perfect prize this time of year. You can keep it for yourself or give it as a gift. Merry Christmas. Don’t forget to visit Real Holiday Helpings for great recipe ideas.

I told you before that I love Swatch watches! Well, Swatch reached its goal of 2,500 Twitter followers so they are giving away a Swatch a day until 12/31/09. Follow them on Twitter and you could be a winner. I’m following them and I hope you will too.