NAD FINDS NATURE’S WAY CAN SUPPORT CERTAIN ADVERTISING CLAIMS FOR ‘UMCKA COLDCARE,’ Recommends Advertiser Discontinue Comparative Performance Claim

New York, New York – Jan. 19,   2012 – The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better

Business Bureaus Claims has determined that Nature’s Way Products, Inc., can support certain

advertising claims for the company’s Umcka ColdCare Chewable Tablet  product. NAD recommended

the company discontinue certain claims, including comparative performance claims.

NAD, the advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum, reviewed the claims for the product as part of

NAD’s ongoing monitoring program.

NAD requested substantiation for claims that included:

• “While other cold medicines just mask symptoms, Umcka ColdCare speeds recovery –

naturally.”

• “Attack your cold and get better faster with homeopathic Umcka ColdCare.”

• “It’s safe, natural and clinically proven to shorten duration and reduce the severity of coughs,

colds, sore throats and sinus/bronchial infections.”

The advertiser explained that Umcka ColdCare is a homeopathic medicine that contains EPs 7630, a

the proprietary extract that is obtained from the roots of the South African pelargonium sidoides

plant and manufactured in Germany, where it has been approved by

BfArM, the German equivalent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as a drug for the treatment

of acute bronchitis.

(Full text of decision available to media upon request.)

The advertiser advised NAD that the extract, EPs 7630, has been the subject of more than  twenty

clinical studies involving thousands of patients, nine of which the advertiser submitted in support of

its claims.  Clinical trials involved either the Umckaloabo Solution or Umckaloabo Tablets against a

placebo.

NAD determined that the advertiser’s evidence provided support for claims related to speed of

action, including “Umcka ColdCare speeds recovery-naturally” and “attack your cold and get better

faster with homeopathic Umcka ColdCare.”

NAD came to a different conclusion, however, with regard to the claim “[w]hile other cold medicines

mask symptoms.” With the exception of one study, the advertiser’s studies compared Umcka against

placebo and not other cold medicines.  NAD recommended that the advertiser discontinue the

comparative performance claim.

In considering the advertiser’s “clinically proven,” claims, NAD noted that such have a powerful

impact on consumers and must be supported by reliable, competent and consumer-relevant

scientific evidence.   In the case, the advertiser’s evidence supported the claims that the product is “safe, natural and

clinically proven to shorten duration and reduce the severity of coughs, colds, sore throats and

sinus/bronchial infections.”

The company, in its advertiser’s statement, said that while it “believes that the claim, ‘while other

cold medicines mask symptoms’ is substantiated by the promoted and acknowledged short-term,

symptom-masking benefits of most cold medicines on the market,” it will “take the NAD’s comments

into consideration in preparing future promotional claims.”

NAD’s inquiry was conducted under NAD/CARU/NARB Procedures for the Voluntary Self-Regulation of National Advertising.  Details of the initial inquiry, NAD’s decision, and the advertiser’s response will be included in the next NAD/CARU Case Report.

About Advertising Industry Self-Regulation: The National Advertising Review Council (NARC) was formed in 1971. NARC establishes the policies and procedures for the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, the CBBB’s Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU), the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) and the Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program (ERSP).

The NARC Board of Directors is composed of representatives of the American Advertising Federation, Inc. (AAF), American Association of Advertising Agencies, Inc., (AAAA),  the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. (ANA), Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (CBBB), Direct Marketing Association (DMA), Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).  Its purpose is to foster truth and accuracy in national advertising through voluntary self-regulation.

NAD, CARU and ERSP are the investigative arms of the advertising industry’s voluntary self-regulation  program. Their casework results from competitive challenges from other advertisers, and also from self-monitoring traditional and new media. NARB, the appeals body, is a peer group from which ad-hoc panels are selected to adjudicate NAD/CARU cases that are not resolved at the NAD/CARU level. This unique, self-regulatory system is funded entirely by the business community; CARU is financed by the children’s advertising industry, while NAD/NARC/NARB’s primary source of funding is derived from membership fees paid to the CBBB. ERSP’s funding is derived from membership in the Electronic Retailing Association. For more information about advertising industry self-regulation, please visit www.narcpartners.org