NAD Reviews ‘#1” Claim for Gurwitch ‘Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer’

New York, NY – June 19, 2013 – The National Advertising Division has recommended that Gurwitch Products LLC provide a more detailed disclosure in print advertising for the company’s “Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer.”

NAD is an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation. It is administered by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. As part of its routine monitoring program, NAD requested substantiation the following claim:

• “The #1 selling Tinted Moisturizer.*”

*Based on The NPD Group, Inc. U.S. volume sales in prestige retail YE 2012.

NAD questioned whether the claim implied that the product is the top-selling tinted moisturizer in the United States.
The advertiser argued that the disclosure was clear and conspicuous and featured in a font that contrasted with the background image. Further, the advertiser noted that the disclosure referred to the “prestige retail” category, which it said was commonly understood in the industry as retail stores that offer relatively high price-point items within a product category, as distinguished from “mass retail” or value-oriented department stores.

Following its review, NAD recommended that the disclosure be modified to make clear that the claim is based on NPD sales data from “better” department stores and online retailers.

NAD further determined that the disclosure as it appeared in Internet advertising was clear, conspicuous and in close proximity to the qualifying claim. However, NAD recommended that the disclosure in the print advertisements be modified to be more conspicuous and appear in immediate proximity to the “#1” claim.

Gurwitch, in its advertiser’s statement, said it “disappointed with NAD’s findings regarding the format of the disclosure language in some versions of its print advertising and NAD’s concern regarding possible interpretations of what constitutes a ‘prestige’ retailer, and respectfully disagrees with NAD’s analysis. Nevertheless, as a strong supporter of the self-regulatory process, Gurwitch will take NAD’s recommendations into consideration.”