National Advertising Division (NAD)

This CLE webinar offers a unique, inside look at how BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division (NAD) evaluates medical devices and other health-related products and services. Our panelists will engage in a lively discussion of recent enforcement trends and challenges for manufacturers, and how companies can effectively use the NAD framework to their advantage. In addition, this event will discuss NAD guidance on self-regulation and how to use it as a tool to ensure competitors also meet the standards set by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Continue Reading Register today! Join us for a CLE webinar “Evolving Roles for Self-Regulation of Medical Devices and Health Services”

Last week, the National Advertising Division (“NAD”) issued a decision in the realm of online native advertising.  In the action against Joyus, Inc., the NAD was concerned that the company’s advertising for certain products appeared in a format that blurred the line between editorial content and advertising in a way that may confuse consumers.  Joyus

The National Advertising Division (NAD) has for more than 40 years been the premier avenue for self-regulation in the advertising industry. Born in the ’70s at a time when there was pressure from government and consumer advocates to regulate advertising, the industry stepped up and promised to regulate itself. Under the auspices of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the industry associations formed the NAD.

At the annual NAD Law Conference held in New York September 28-29, the NAD announced that some procedural changes would be made in response to an ABA assessment of NAD process.

Here are the highlights of the NAD’s proposed new procedures:Continue Reading Making a Good Thing Better? NAD’s Plans to Modify Its Procedures

Sniffing something fishy in the sea of consumer reviews, the National Advertising Division (NAD) snapped its jaws at advertising claims made in television commercials, infomercials, and on the Web by Euro-Pro Operating for its Shark brand vacuum cleaners. The advertising was brought to the NAD’s attention by competing vacuum cleaner manufacturer, Dyson, Inc. The claim at issue was:

“America’s Most Recommended Vacuum Brand.*

*Based on percentage of consumer recommendations for upright vacuums on major national retailer websites through August 2013, U.S. Only.”

What was special about this case was that Euro-Pro sought to substantiate its “most recommended” claim on aggregated consumer reviews.

The first issue was, what did the claim really mean? Dyson said it meant that the Shark is the most recommended vacuum among vacuum cleaner owners, nationwide, and that the claim communicated a comparative message, namely that the Shark was recommended over other brands. Euro-Pro, on the other hand, thought the claim was as clear as Caribbean water: the Shark is “America’s Most Recommended Vacuum Brand” “based on percentages of consumer reviews for upright vacuums on major national retailer websites through August 2013.” There was nothing comparative about the statement, according to the advertiser. Interestingly, the NAD tended to side with the advertiser’s interpretation, namely that the claim “America’s Most Recommended Vacuum Brand*” reasonably conveyed a message that Shark is the most recommended vacuum brand among American vacuum cleaner consumers. However, it interpreted the asterisked second part of the claim to be an explanation of how Euro-Pro sourced the data on which it based its claim. So, the Shark wins, right? Not so fast.
Continue Reading NAD Jumps the Shark on Use of Consumer Reviews as Substantiation

Driven by the evolution of technology and social media, brand advertisers are increasingly turning to “native advertising” — a form of paid media in which promoted content is woven into the actual visual design, or fabric, of a website, magazine, or newspaper. The theory is that by providing ads in the context of a user’s experience, and designing content that blends in with the media in which it is placed, the promoted content is less intrusive, and more likely to capture the attention of consumers.

Of course, because native advertising necessarily blurs traditional lines of editorial and advertising content, regulators have begun to more closely scrutinize the practice, and have expressed concerns about the potential for consumer deception. Earlier this year, for example, the National Advertising Division (“NAD”) examined a campaign from Qualcomm, in which it ran banner ads for its Snapdragon processor adjacent to a series of articles that it had sponsored on the Mashable website. For the duration of the campaign, the banner ads included a tag indicating that Qualcomm had sponsored the articles. Once the campaign concluded, however, the tags were removed (even though the articles remained live on Mashable).
Continue Reading BLURRED LINES: The Evolution of Native Advertising

Kim Kardashian is notorious for setting Twitter trends with her fashion-forward tweets. But would a consumer buy the same product knowing she was paid up to $20,000 for tweeting it?

The term “native advertising” refers to when an advertiser masks ads as editorial content in an effort to market more seamlessly to consumers. The intent behind this practice is to make advertisements less intrusive and to associate a brand with an experience.
Continue Reading The Risks of ‘Native Advertising’

As President Obama visited Ireland and England this week enroute to the G8 meeting in France, much was said about the “special relationship” between the United States and England. Coincidentally, I happened to be in our London office participating in one of the firm’s Consumer Goods and Brands Group Breakfast Seminar Series. The topic was

Effective March 15, 2010, the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) will be raising the CBBB Corporate Partner filing fee to $3,500 from $2,500 for filing a NAD challenge.

This is the first increase in the Corporate Partner filing fee since 2005 and continues to represent a very significant discount to the filing fee charged

The National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) is the premier self-regulatory body for advertising cases in the United States. It handles the majority of contested false advertising cases every year, compared with actions brought under the Lanham Act. In fact, in 2008, the NAD handled 214 cases, including 84