National Advertising Division Recommends Olly Discontinue or Modify Certain Claims for its Kids Chillax Product; Olly to Appeal

New York, NY – January 27, 2025 – In a challenge brought by competitor Bayer Healthcare LLC, BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division recommended that Olly PBC discontinue or modify certain claims concerning its Kids Chillax dietary supplement’s ability to support calm and relaxed moods in children, as well as claims for Olly’s previous formulation of its Kids Multivitamin Probiotic (KMP).

Bayer and Olly manufacture dietary supplements, including multivitamins intended for use by children. 

Express Claims

Olly markets its Chillax supplement, containing 50mg L-theanine, 30mg magnesium, and 50mg lemon balm, as supporting a “calm” and “relaxed” mood in kids while helping them “stay engaged” and highlights the ingredient L-theanine, an amino acid found in tea leaves, as the ingredient responsible for those effects.

At issue for the National Advertising Division (NAD) was whether a clinical study commissioned by Olly on its Chillax product, along with the existing research on L-theanine, supports Olly’s claims.

NAD concluded that Olly’s study was not a good fit for the challenged express claims because, among other reasons, NAD found that the assessments used to assess anxiety levels in the study were not reliable for the youngest participants in the study. NAD also found the evidence provided on L-theanine did not provide a good fit for the challenged claims.

NAD therefore recommended that Olly discontinue the following claims or modify its advertising to be consistent with the results of the underlying testing and research:

• OLLY’s Kids Chillax “supports a calm and relaxed mood”
• “Z is for Zen: These peaceful pals are just the thing to help gently calm little minds, while helping kiddos stay engaged”
• “L-Theanine is “Captain calm”
• A 50 mg dose of L-Theanine “works within 60 minutes to support a relaxed state of mind”
• L-Theanine “helps support a calm mood for kiddos”
• L-Theanine “works to support a relaxed state of mind”

During the proceeding, Olly permanently discontinued certain claims for its Chillax product. In addition, Olly informed NAD that it had reformulated the KMP product to use a different probiotic strain and confirmed that such claims pertaining to the prior formulation were permanently discontinued. Therefore, NAD did not review the discontinued claims on their merits and will treat the claims, for compliance purposes, as though NAD recommended they be discontinued.

Implied Claim

Bayer also argued that consumer reviews appearing on Olly’s website conveyed the message that The Kids Chillax supplement helps with ADHD, behavioral problems, anxiety, and sleep troubles. Bayer further argued that the consumer reviews should be deemed false or misleading implied claims that Olly has a responsibility to remove from its website.

NAD determined that the reviews are authentic because there was no evidence in the record that the reviews were false or fake, or that the reviews misrepresented or were not reflective of the individual reviewer’s experience. NAD further determined that Olly was engaging in reasonable practices with respect to its collection of reviews.

NAD noted that while the Federal Trade Commission guidance provides that advertisers are not required to moderate reviews with unsupported product benefit claims, it is prudent to monitor independent reviews for misleading messages. If a misleading message is repeated, advertisers should consider (1) removing reviews that make unsupported product claims (positive or negative), and (2) examine its advertising to determine if it contributes to misleading messages.

In its advertiser statement, Olly stated that it will appeal part of NAD’s decision because it “respectfully disagrees with NAD’s recommendation that it discontinue or modify the claims for its Kids Chillax product.”

Appeals of NAD decisions are made to the BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the appellate-level truth-in-advertising body of BBB National Programs. 

All BBB National Programs case decision summaries can be found in the case decision library. For the full text of NAD, NARB, and CARU decisions, subscribe to the online archive. This press release shall not be used for advertising or promotional purposes.