New York, NY – December 8, 2006 – The Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program (ERSP) has recommended that NxCare, Inc., marketers of the Methyl Ripped fat burner, discontinue product superiority claims and modify weight-loss related product performance claims. The marketer’s advertising was reviewed pursuant to an anonymous challenge.

ERSP,  the  electronic  direct-response  industry’s  self-regulatory  forum,  is  administered  by  the Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) with policy oversight by the National Advertising Review Council (NARC).

ERSP reviewed the following core claims:

• “Methyl Ripped-Rapid Fat Loss.”
• “Methyl Ripped’s formula goes to work quickly obliterating fat.”

“No other fat burner can match Methyl Ripped’s combination of power, speed and effectiveness.  Combined with Methyl DRY and Methyl LEAN, to form the ripped system, you’ll burn fat and get shredded faster than ever.” “bodybuilding’s strongest fat burner”

Following its review of the evidence, ERSP determined that without comparative data against similar products in the marketplace, the superiority claims should be discontinued until the appropriate evidence has been provided.

ERSP determined that the testing results submitted did not support all reasonable interpretations communicated by the performance claims and recommended that the marketer modify or discontinue unqualified claims of rapid weight loss, particularly in conjunction with the claim that Methyl Ripped “goes to work quickly obliterating fat.”

ERSP recognized the marketer’s inclusion of the proper disclosure language accompanying consumer testimonials, but found that the text of the disclosure was of insufficient size. ERSP recommended the disclosure be made more clear and conspicuous. 

ERSP found the consumer testimonial (i.e., I needed to quickly lose fat, especially from my abs and waist”) to be a targeted weight-loss claim for which the marketer supplied no substantiation and recommended the marketer remove this claim from future advertising.

Finally, ERSP recommended that the marketer reconcile the discrepancy between the fat loss observed in its studies on Methyl Ripped’s individual ingredients versus the fat loss attributed by consumer testimonials to use of the product.