If your marketing plan includes raising awareness through bloggers, read the latest FTC announcement on disclosure of freebies. The agency says that bloggers who review products given to them for free should disclose that fact in some circumstances. Failure to do so will not affect thebloggers, but could trigger FTC action against marketers for what the agency considers deceptive practices.
How closely can nutritional supplement companies connect with the fast-moving world of social media? The FDA will address these questions at a hearing Nov. 12-13 in Washington. The agency is soliciting comments in the Federal Register.
The Federal Trade Commission provides advertising lessons in its proposed settlement with CVS to refund nearly $2.8 million to buyers of the retailer’s Air Shield dietary supplement. The drug store chain made cold-prevention claims for the product that were similar to those for competing products, Airborne and Germ Defense. Those product claims also ran afoul of the FTC and cost their companies.
We are not sure of the reason, but it seems that every three months or so, a national media outlet weighs in on an old story: tainted nutritional supplements. The latest is a rehash of anecdotes with the same question: Are vitamins safe? So goes the Sept. 7 article in the Wall Street Journal headlined, “What’s Really in Supplements?”
Placebos seem to make a difference in research and clinical practice. For that reason, testimonials and open-label trial results should never be provided as sole evidence of efficacy when a product marketing campaign is challenged by a regulatory authority.
If you have not visited the NutriSupLaw blog in a little while, you should. To celebrate the start of our fifth year, we gave the blog a makeover. Or as they say on the Web, a redesign. We think the new look does a better job of displaying blog entries and organizing our growing lists of resources, links and tags.
