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Category Archives: NAD

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An NAD Update

By Christopher S. Crook and Deborah Bessner on Posted in NAD
The 2019 National Advertising Division (“NAD”) closed out its Annual Conference with an update from Laura Brett, the Director of the NAD, and Alexander Goldman, an attorney with the NAD. The update focused on three main points: NAD statistics from the past year, NAD practice pointers, and the future of the types of cases being … Continue Reading

Mr. Smith Goes to New York: Takeaways from the Keynote Address of the FTC’s Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the NAD Annual Conference

By Christopher S. Crook, Leonard L. Gordon, Mary M. Gardner and Elliot Kelly on Posted in Consumer Protection, FTC, NAD
The National Advertising Division (“NAD”) held its Annual Conference in New York yesterday. Andrew Smith, the head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection for the FTC, delivered the keynote address and provided attendees with an excellent overview of the past year’s landmark decisions in FTC jurisprudence. For those who frequent this blog, it comes as … Continue Reading

A Morning Cup of COPPA From the NAD Annual Conference

By Christopher S. Crook and Deborah Bessner on Posted in Children/Kids, FTC, NAD
The National Advertising Division Annual Conference kicked off with Andrew Smith, the Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, as the keynote speaker. Near the close of his remarks, Director Smith announced that the FTC will hold a workshop on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). For a refresher, COPPA is designed to … Continue Reading

FTC Hints It’s Feeling the Buzz

By Leonard L. Gordon and Matthew S. Renick on Posted in FTC, NAD
Last September, the National Advertising Division (NAD) published a decision assessing whether the editorial content surrounding an affiliate link constituted “national advertising” requiring substantiation. At issue were two statements in a BuzzFeed “shopping guide,” in which the author tested and recommended various skincare products. The NAD reviewed BuzzFeed’s internal procedures with respect to the editorial … Continue Reading

Demystifying the NAD Referral Process

By Randy Shaheen and Matthew S. Renick on Posted in FTC, NAD
What does it mean when the National Advertising Division refers a case to the Federal Trade Commission? At this year’s NAD Annual Conference, Mary K. Engle, the associate director of the FTC’s Division of Advertising Practices, and NAD director Laura Brett sorted fact from fiction about NAD referrals and shared their perspectives from both sides … Continue Reading

Recent NAD Decision Largely Rejects Puffery Defenses and Consumer Testimonials that Disparage Competition

By Randy Shaheen on Posted in Claim Substantiation, NAD
It seems like we (and the NAD) can’t get enough of “best.” In a recent case, the National Advertising Division (NAD) ruled that the advertiser, Mahindra USA, Inc., could not claim its products were superior without reasonable evidence. Deere & Company, Inc. challenged Mahindra’s tractor advertisements as unsubstantiated superiority claims. Mahindra’s ads included “Best” claims … Continue Reading

Simply the Best, Better Than all the Rest: Superiority Claims and Substantiation

By Randy Shaheen on Posted in Claim Substantiation, NAD
Do you have the best wireless provider? If so, best in what sense—the best contract, the best devices, the best connectivity, the best value? That was the issue NAD recently addressed when it recommended that T-Mobile discontinue its “Best Unlimited Network” claim. AT&T challenged T-Mobile’s tagline in a recent NAD case, arguing that it was … Continue Reading

“Everyone Does It” Doesn’t Fly at NAD

By Brian Tengel and Randy Shaheen on Posted in NAD, Pricing
When a widespread industry practice comes under regulatory scrutiny, companies that end up in the crosshairs sometimes fall back on the “everyone does it” defense. This argument has an intuitive appeal in the consumer-protection context—consumers are presumably aware of practices that are common across an entire industry, the thinking goes, and they make purchasing decisions … Continue Reading

NAD Lashes Out Over Use of Stale Market Share Data for a Best-Selling Claim

By Amy Mudge on Posted in Claim Substantiation, Cosmetics, NAD
I love a good mascara case. And it’s been too long. The last time NAD looked at mascara, it was monitoring challenges over whether celebrities in mascara ads were merely spokesmodels or product demonstrations and concluded the latter. (See here and here and an earlier blog I wrote on this topic.) NAD recommended clear disclosure … Continue Reading

NAD Finds Support for Cleaning Products Claims Not All Sunshine and Daisies

By Brian Tengel and Amy Mudge on Posted in Competitor Litigation, False Advertising, NAD
Whoopsy daisy. Better Life, a maker of home cleaning products, recently ran evocative comparative video ads with a product demonstration to grab consumers’ attention and gain share. It’s a common enough advertising strategy, but one that Better Life in this case should have nipped in the bud, according to NAD. The ads featured a time-lapse … Continue Reading

“UP TO” NO GOOD

By Randy Shaheen, Amy Mudge and Jack Ferry on Posted in FTC, NAD
A recent NAD decision provided an opportunity for NAD to once again opine on the standard for performance-related “up to” claims – this time related to energy efficiency.  As even infrequent readers of the blog are aware, this is a popular topic and one we’re prepared to talk about more often than Disney releases a … Continue Reading

Coffee Talk with Lee Peeler: Self-Regulatory Process and Key Changes to NAD’s Procedures

By Randy Shaheen and Amy Mudge on Posted in CoffeeTalk, NAD
Lee Peeler has had a remarkable career. Currently he is President of the Advertising Self-Regulatory Council, which among other things oversees the NAD and CARU. Prior to that he was Deputy Director of the FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau and an Associate Director of its Advertising Practices Division. And to top it all off, anyone who … Continue Reading

Soup Competitors Stir the Pot on Local Sourcing Claims at NAD

By Amy Mudge and Randy Shaheen on Posted in Food and Drink, NAD
With the popularity of the eating local movement, it’s no wonder food companies want to promote when they do business with local farmers or have small batch local operations. NAD recently provided some guardrails for such claims in a case involving General Mills. Its Progresso Soups tout “Vineland, New Jersey: Home of Progresso” and “This … Continue Reading

CoffeeTalk on Native Advertising with FTC Commissioner Brill

By Amy Mudge and Randy Shaheen on Posted in CoffeeTalk, Food and Drink, FTC, Green claims, NAD
We like drinking coffee; thoughtful conversations with friends and watching videos so we thought why not do all three. Below is the first of periodic vlogs that we hope to bring to you – FTC Commissioner Brill sharing some good coffee, good company and some thoughts on Native Advertising and whose shoes she tries to walk in when parties … Continue Reading

Not Your Mother’s Red Solo Cup

By Randy Shaheen and Amy Mudge on Posted in Green claims, NAD
We have sometimes described finding materials that will quickly biodegrade in landfills as the Holy Grail of environmental marketing.  But who would have guessed it would come in the form of a polystyrene cup? Well, not exactly, the NAD cautioned in a recent decision.  New Win Cup Holdings marketed the Vio cup, which it claimed … Continue Reading

The FTC Awakens: Native Advertising Enforcement Statement Out Just in Time for the Holidays

By Amy Mudge and Randy Shaheen on Posted in FTC, NAD, Native
It’s been a big week for premieres. And if you thought you sensed a disturbance in the Force then the Force is indeed strong with you as the FTC just released their Enforcement Policy Statement on Deceptively Formatted Advertisements and Business Guidance on Native Advertising. A long time ago, in a conference room far, far … Continue Reading
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