Direct Response Advertising For Sea Vegg Referred To Government For Non-Compliance With ERSP

New York, NY – August 10, 2005 – The Electronic Retailing Self- Regulation Program (“ERSP”), the electronic direct-response industry’s self-regulatory forum administered by the National Advertising Review Council (“NARC”), announced that advertising by ITV Direct, Inc. (“ITV”), marketer for the Sea Vegg nutritional supplement has been referred to the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) for noncompliance. This compliance proceeding stemmed from an earlier inquiry in which ERSP requested substantiation for several core claims identified in advertising for the Sea Vegg nutritional supplement that came to ERSP through its ongoing monitoring program.

In the original inquiry, ERSP requested that the marketer provide substantiation for several core claims that were communicated in the thirty-minute infomercial. The core claims at issue included:  “…rebalances the thyroid.”; “…helped my mother’s MS.”; “Stabilize your weight…despite your eating habits”; “Removes toxins and heavy metals”; “Incredibly, the destruction of these [cancerous] tumors was observed to take place without affecting normal cells.” and “We have all the science behind it.”.

ERSP concluded that the marketer did not conduct any studies on the advertised product nor did it conduct testing on the ingredients at the same strength in which they are contained in the product. As such, ERSP determined that the marketer could not support the claims involving general product performance, health and safety and weight loss. ERSP was also concerned that many of the claims made by ITV that were based on the testing of individual ingredients in Sea Vegg would be understood by consumers as being attributable to the advertised product when, in fact, they are not. As such, ERSP recommended that ITV either make substantial and significant modifications to the advertising or discontinue the advertising completely. In a marketer’s statement to ERSP following the decision, ITV stated it would “…immediately modify our website and take ERSP’s recommendations under consideration for all future modifications or edits of the advertisement.”