Tag: advertising
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FTC Commissioners Order POM Wonderful to Conduct Tests Before Asserting Health Benefits
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a final decision in a complaint alleging that POM Wonderful made false and misleading claims by advertising its pomegranate juice products with health-benefit assertions that the company contended were backed by medical research. In re POM Wonderful LLC, No. 9344 (FTC, decided January 10, 2013). Additional information about…
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NAD to Investigate 5-Hour Energy® Claims Highlighted in NYT Report
The Council of Better Business Bureaus’ National Advertising Division (NAD) has reportedly decided to review “no crash later” claims made by Living Essentials LLC about its caffeinated energy supplement 5-Hour Energy® after The New York Times published a January 2, 2013, article questioning the scientific evidence behind such assertions. According to media sources, NAD ruled in…
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Putative Class Challenges “100% Natural” Labeling on GM Foods
A California resident has filed a putative class action against General Mills, Inc. alleging that two of its frozen vegetable “steamers” products are falsely advertised as “100% Natural” because they contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Cox v. General Mills, Inc., No. 12-6377 (N.D. Cal., filed December 17, 2012). According to the complaint, the products contain GM…
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Brain Imaging Study Focuses on Food Logos
Researchers with the University of Missouri-Kansas City and University of Kansas Medical Center have used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to map brain responses to food logos in obese and healthy-weight children. Amanda Bruce, et al., “Brain Responses to Food Logos in Obese and Health Weight Children,” Journal of Pediatrics, November 2012. According to the study,…
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Food Fight for Nickelodeon
In the ongoing battle over whether the government should regulate food ads targeting children, the Food Marketing Workgroup (FMW), a coalition of more than 80 health groups and nutritionists, is putting pressure on Nickelodeon and its parent company, Viacom, to adopt nutrition guidelines for foods marketed to children, particularly foods that license Nickelodeon characters such…
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Spam Text Class Action Certified Against Papa John’s
A federal court in California has certified a nationwide class and Washington subclass of individuals who received purportedly unsolicited text messages sent by OnTime4U to advertise Papa John’s pizza products. Agne v. Papa John’s Int’l, Inc., No. 10-1139 (W.D. Wash., decided November 9, 2012). An appeal was filed before the Ninth Circuit on November 26. According…
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ASA Faults Beverage Marketing Claims
The U.K. Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld three challenges to marketing claims made by Santa Monica, California-based Neurobrands LLC about its line of “Neuro” beverages. Lodged in August 2011 before Commission Regulation (EU) No. 432/21012 established a list of permitted health claims for foods, the complainants argued that the claims appearing on Neurobrands’ website…
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House Proposal Would End Subsidy to Companies That Advertise “Junk Food” to Children
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has introduced a bill to deny federal tax deductions to companies marketing “junk food” to children. The Stop Subsidizing Childhood Obesity Act (H.R. 6599) would “amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to protect children’s health by denying any deduction for advertising and marketing directed at children to promote the consumption…