NEWS
 

For months, we've been pounding the table in this blog for Truth In Labeling for resveratrol products. Misleading labels and claims abound. Now - here's an important development:

New York, NY – June 20, 2007 – The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has recommended that Renaissance Health Publishing modify the format for print and Website advertising for the dietary supplement Revatrol, a “red wine” extract. NAD has recommended also that the company discontinue certain claims for the product. NAD, the advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum, examined print and  Website advertising for Revatrol as part of NAD’s ongoing monitoring program. NAD has expanded its review of dietary supplements, pursuant to a series of grants from the Council for Responsible Nutrition.

Claims at issue in Website advertising included:

• “Revatrol™. The #1 Red Wine Extract Formula.”

• “It’s a powerful combination of the strongest available
whole red wine grape extract with 95% OPC,
as well as three other key anti-oxidants”

The print advertisement, entitled “National Health News Report,” appeared also on the Website and featured additional claims, including:

“One little capsule a day that can ease dozens of your worst health worries” and then lists those health worries, “High Cholesterol,” “Constant Fatigue,” “Heart Trouble,” “Colds and Flu,” “Memory Loss,” “Poor Circulation,” “Aging Skin,”
and “High Blood Pressure.”

NAD noted in its decision that resveratrol, one of the key ingredients in Revatrol, has recently received significant media attention and was the subject of several recent studies. NAD found that the existing research indicates resveratrol is an effective antioxidant, but noted in its decision that the studies submitted by the advertiser were conducted on animals, rather than humans. Further, the animals were given resveratrol at far greater concentrations than Revatrol or any other red wine extract product provides.

Following its review of the evidence, NAD determined that the advertiser can continue to discuss the proven benefits of each of the individual antioxidant ingredients in its product as long as there is no implication that the benefits have been proven for the product itself. Further, NAD determined that the advertiser can distinguish its product from similar products by pointing out the different ingredients and concentrations that its product offers.

However, NAD determined that the “Natural Health News Report” was misleading in that it appeared as an editorial rather than an advertisement and included several unsupported performance and comparative claims. Specifically, NAD recommended the advertiser discontinue the claim that suggested the product could “ease dozens of your worst health worries,” and the attendant list. The company has agreed to do so.

NAD noted in its decision that the advertiser voluntarily modified the content of the “Natural Health News Report” during the NAD proceeding. However, NAD found that modified version continued to be presented as editorial material, rather than advertising and recommended the revised “Report” be further modified, or be discontinued.

The company, in its advertiser’s statement, said that while it does not agree with the NAD's conclusions regarding the format in which the “Natural Health News Report” is presented, it will modify the format to assure “there can be no question as to the nature and source of this publication. Moreover, the health related claims identified by NAD have been reviewed and will be revised in accordance with the NAD's decision in a forthcoming revision to the Revatrol advertising.”

NAD's inquiry was conducted under NAD/CARU/NARB Procedures for the Voluntary Self-Regulation of National Advertising. Details of the initial inquiry, NAD's decision, and the advertiser's response will be included in the next AND Case Report.

The National Advertising Review Council (NARC) was formed in 1971 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. (ANA), the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Inc. (AAAA), the American Advertising Federation, Inc. (AAF), and the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB). Its purpose is to foster truth and accuracy in national advertising through voluntary self-regulation. NARC is the body that establishes the policies and procedures for the CBBB’s National Advertising Division (NAD) and Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), as well as for the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) and Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program (ERSP.)

NAD and CARU are the investigative arms of the advertising industry’s voluntary self-regulation program. Their casework results from competitive challenges from other advertisers, and also from self-monitoring traditional and new media. The National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appeals body, is a peer group from which ad-hoc panels are selected to adjudicate those cases that are not resolved at the NAD/CARU level. This unique, self-regulatory system is funded entirely by the business community; CARU is financed by the children’s advertising industry, while NAD/NARC/NARB’s sole source of funding is derived from membership fees paid to the CBBB. ERSP’s funding is derived from membership fees to the Electronic Retailing Association.

For more information about advertising self regulation, please visit www.narcpartners.org.

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