Through a series of multi-year grants from CRN, the new initiative will allow NAD to hire an additional attorney who will focus solely on this product category. The initiative is anticipated to address not only comparative advertising claims among makers of dietary supplements, but also substantive claims that are deceptive or misleading and clearly go beyond whats supported by research and allowed by lawclaims that feed the publics distrust of the supplement industry.
"While CRN has taken individual actions in the past to stop particularly egregious advertising claims, we felt it was time to become even more proactive to protect our industrys image, said Steve Mister, president and CEO, CRN. This initiative will help ensure our industrys customers can have faith that the advertising they see is truthful and not misleading."
CRN will support NAD through membership in the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB). Policies and procedures for the industrys system of self-regulation are set by the National Advertising Review Council (NARC), an alliance of the advertising industry trade associations and the CBBB formed in 1971.
NAD reviews advertising that is national in scope, including print, broadcast, infomercials and Internet advertising. NAD opens cases following complaints from consumers, competitors and pursuant to its own monitoring. NAD has a staff of six attorneys who open an average 170 cases each year for all industries. The CRN grants will allow NAD to increase by three-fold the number of dietary supplement-specific case reviews opened each year. CRN will have no role in determining which advertisements