National Advertising Division Recommends Kimberly-Clark Discontinue Huggies “#1 Best Fitting Diaper” Claims and Modify Others

New York, NY – February 8, 2024 – In a challenge brought by The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G), BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division recommended that Kimberly-Clark Inc. (K-C) discontinue claims that Huggies is the “#1 Best Fitting Diaper” and modify its advertising to, among other things, avoid conveying that its diapers have a superior fit over all diapers on the market, including those sold by P&G under its Pampers brand.

The National Advertising Division (NAD) also concluded that the advertising did not reasonably convey that all Huggies brand diapers provide superior leakage protection.

P&G challenged K-C’s television commercials, print, digital media, and website claims that K-C’s diapers are the “#1 Best Fitting Diaper.” 

NAD concluded that some consumers may reasonably take away the message that the “#1 Best Fitting Diaper” claims are true of all Huggies diapers rather than the Little Movers or Little Snugglers products. NAD noted that K-C did not provide any evidence of the superior fit of Huggies-branded diapers other than Little Movers.

With respect to Little Movers, NAD determined that K-C’s study did not provide a reasonable basis for its #1 diaper fit claims and recommended discontinuance of the claims. 

NAD further recommended that K-C modify its advertising to avoid conveying the following messages:

• All Huggies branded diapers provide a superior fit versus all diapers on the market.
• Because Huggies diapers have the [“most curves”] [a “curved and stretchy fit”], they will provide a better fit/better conform to baby’s shape during wear, than other diapers on the market.
• Because Huggies diapers have the [“most curves”] [a “curved and stretchy fit”] when stretched and laid flat they will provide a better fit/better conform to a baby’s shape during wear than other diapers on the market.
• Huggies Little Movers diapers provide superior fit versus all diapers on the market.

Regarding leak protection claims, NAD determined that K-C’s commercial and website do not reasonably convey a message of superior leakage protection versus other products.

Some variations of the challenged #1 claim appear in the context of a side-by-side comparison of the Huggies diaper with a Pampers diaper. The comparison depicts an open   Huggies diaper next to a Pampers diaper. Curved dotted lines are drawn to the left and right of the Huggies diaper, highlighting its curved sides. 

While NAD determined that, independent of the #1 Diaper Fit claims, the display of the diapers side-by-side did not convey a superiority message requiring support on K-C’s website and in the Little Movers commercial, it recommended that K-C modify the side-by-side comparison so that the dotted lines are used to depict equivalent parts of each diaper. During the proceeding, K-C voluntarily agreed to modify the dotted lines that appear on the side-by-side comparison to more accurately represent the Pampers’ diaper absorbent core.

NAD further recommended that K-C modify the side-by-side comparison in the Little Snugglers commercial, with the claim that “only Huggies has the most curves to fit your delicate skin,” to avoid conveying the message that Huggies have a superior fit due to having more curves.

In its advertiser statement, K-C stated that it “will comply with NAD’s recommendations” and that it “respectfully disagrees with NAD’s conclusions related to the #1 fit claims.” 

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