NARB Recommends Origins Discontinue Claims That Plantscription Anti-Aging Serum Rivals Anti-Wrinkle Prescriptions; Finds for Advertiser on All Additional Claims

New York, NY – April 9, 2013 – A five-person panel of the National Advertising Review Board has recommended that Origins Natural Resources, Inc., discontinue advertising claims that Plantscription Anti-aging serum rivals an anti-wrinkle prescription and provides 88 percent of the visible wrinkle-reducing power of a prescription.

The panel found, however, that Origins had supported all other claims at issue in Origins’ NARB appeal.

NARB is the appellate unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation.

The National Advertising Division, an investigative unit of the advertising industry’s system of self-regulation, had conducted a review of the Origins’ advertising. NAD concluded that a number of claims were supported, but recommended that the claims “Nature’s Plantscription rivals an anti-wrinkle prescription” and “88% of the visible wrinkle-reducing power of a prescription” be discontinued.

NAD also recommended that the advertiser discontinue references to Anogeissus, discontinue the use of the term “repair,” minimize references to surgical procedures and modify claims to avoid any potential overstatement of the extent to which its products are natural.

NARB, following its review of the advertiser’s evidence, determined that language in the advertising reviewed, which compared Plantscription Anti-aging serum to an anti-wrinkle prescription, reasonably conveyed a broad of the Plantscription product’s parity or near-parity (88%) with an anti-wrinkle prescription. The panel determined that this message was not supported by the record and recommended that these claims be discontinued.

The panel found that advertised references to the Plantscription products containing Anogeissus reasonably conveyed only the messages that the products contain Anogeissus and that Anogeissus contributes to the anti-aging effect of the products, messages that the panel found were reasonably supported.

The panel also found that humorous references to cosmetic surgery did not reasonably convey a message that Plantscription Anti-aging eye treatment provides results comparable to cosmetic surgery, and that the advertisements did not overstate the extent to which Plantscription Anti-aging eye treatment is natural.

Finally, the NARB panel found that claims that Plantscription products “visibly help repair” signs of aging conveyed a message that the Plantscription products improve facial appearance with respect to lines and wrinkles, a claim that the panel found was reasonably supported.

Origins, in its advertiser’s statement, said the company “is pleased that the Panel agreed with Origins on four of the five issues presented for NARB review.

The advertiser took issue with NARB’s decision regarding its claims comparing Plantscription Serum with an anti-wrinkle prescription, adding, however, that it was “pleased that the panel agreed with Origins that the data generated in Origins’ clinical testing could be relied on to support a comparative claim,” and agreeing to “take into account and address the concerns expressed by the Panel.”