NAD Refers Advertising for Pursuit of Research’s ‘NutriiVeda’ to FTC Following Second Compliance Review

New York, NY – June 10, 2015  – The National Advertising Division has referred advertising claims made by Pursuit of Research for its NutriiVeda whey powder dietary supplement to the Federal Trade Commission for further review. NAD’s decision comes after the company failed to comply with the terms of a previous NAD decision.

NAD is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation. It is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus.

The claims made by Pursuit of Research were initially challenged before NAD by NourishLife, LLC, a competing maker of dietary supplements.

In the underlying decision, NAD determined that the evidence submitted by the advertiser was insufficient to support its claims that NutriiVeda cured or treated the symptoms of apraxia, autism and epilepsy in children or could improve their speech, language acquisition, fine and gross motor skills, awareness of surrounding, facial expressions multi-tasking, behavioral and developmental delays, seizures and sensory perception or any other symptoms of neurological disorders.  These claims appeared on two of the advertiser’s websites. NAD further determined that the testimonials on the advertiser’s websites conveyed the same unsupported messages that NutriiVeda treated or cured symptoms of their diseases,  such as difficulty with speech.

Based on its review of the advertiser’s evidence, NAD recommended that the advertiser discontinue its health and performance claims, including those found in testimonials. The advertiser agreed to comply with NAD’s recommendations.

NAD opened a compliance inquiry, but was assured by the advertiser the claims would be modified or discontinued. In May, NAD learned that the advertiser continued to disseminate the unsupported claims and testimonials  and opened a second compliance review.

In its decision, NAD said that it was “extremely concerned that the advertiser continues to make these unsupported claims of near miraculous recovery from apraxia, autism, epilepsy and other neurological disorders, despite its representations on two occasions that it would discontinue them.  Parents of children that suffer from these diseases are a vulnerable target population.”

As a result, NAD has referred the advertising at issue to the FTC for further review.