Appeal of NAD Final Decision Regarding Advertising for Promise® Brand Soft Spreads
GFA Brands, Inc., manufacturer of Smart Balance® soft spreads, challenged Unilever in regards to advertising claims for its Promise® brand soft spreads. The challenged advertisements included (1) “Cardiologist Endorsed” on product packaging, (2) “Promise® Brand of soft spreads endorsed by 9 out of 10 cardiologists.”, (3) “Promise® spreads recently conducted a national survey of over 320 cardiologists and found that 9 out of 10 would endorse Promise® brand of soft spreads for their patients, based on nutritional information.”, (4) “4 out of 5 cardiologists prefer Promise® Buttery Spread over Smart Balance® Butter Spread for their patients” and (5) “Cardiologists significantly prefer for their patients the nutritional profile of [Promise® Brand Spreads] to that of [Smart Balance® Brand Soft Spread].”
NAD found that Unilever’s survey was materially flawed because it did not provide the cardiologists with sufficient information about the products, and the “cardiologist endorsed” claim was not substantiated because there was no evidence that the cardiologists surveyed actually endorsed the products to their patients in the daily course of their practice.
Because complete product ingredients were not provided in the survey of cardiologists conducted by Unilever, the panel agreed with NAD and determined that the proffered survey did not meet the level of substantiation required for “doctor endorsed” claims, and can not be used to support any medical opinions expressed as preferences, endorsements, or recommendations.
The panel recommended that Unilever discontinue claims that cardiologists endorse or prefer Promise® soft spreads or individual Promise® soft spread products based on the survey relied upon by Unilever in support of those claims.
The advertiser, Unilever, agreed to follow NARB’s recommendation.
Board Members for Panel # 151
Abby Elu (Chair)
Manager, Learning & Development Global Advertising Services
Campbell Soup Company
Elaine Lawson
Interactive Marketing Leader
MasterCard Worldwide
Andreas Combuechen
CEO, CCO
Atmosphere BBDO
Michael Jeary
President & CEO
Partners + Jeary
Andrew J. Strenio Jr. (absent)
Partner
Siddley Austin LLP
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