Advertising Initiatives
Promoting truthful, transparent, responsible advertising through self-regulation, monitoring, and enforcement
Businesses that advertise and market their products and services need to commit to truthful and responsible advertising, allowing consumers to make informed choices and companies to build and nurture valuable consumer relationships.
To learn more about our work—and to join in the effort—please check out the programs, initiatives, and resources below.
Our Programs
Advertising Guidance
Since the creation of the National Advertising Division (NAD) in 1971, the advertising industry has supported high standards for truth and transparency through a comprehensive system of independent industry self-regulation programs.
Those programs enforce high standards of truth and accuracy in national advertising and ensure that advertising to children is not misleading or inappropriate. Beyond formal guidance, each of our case decisions contain real-world guidance on important advertising issues that attorneys can leverage for their clients and marketing professionals can follow to avoid advertising substantiation problems. Access summaries of all decisions in our Case Decision Summary library. Subscribe to the Online Archive for the full text of all decisions.
As the advertising landscape continues to evolve, we adapt our programs to the challenges posed by new products, new industries, and new advertising technology.
Truth in Advertising 101
Our educational resource library of tips, videos, and guidance shares advertising law basics, including defining common terms like ‘puffery,’ and how to draw the line between truthful and misleading advertising.
Endorsements & Testimonials
What is the proper way to use endorsements and testimonials in advertising, while staying truthful and out of the crosshairs of NAD and the FTC?
Puffery
Why don’t exaggerated or boasting claims made in advertising, known as puffery, require a reasonable basis of evidence?
Express and Implied Claims
What is the difference between an express or implied claim and does an advertiser need to have evidence to support both?
Process
Our advertising programs uphold standards for truthful and responsible advertising and responsible targeted advertising data collection practices through:
- independent monitoring;
- competitor challenges; and
- corporate commitments to voluntary standards.
Though competitor advertising challenges, business can play a significant role in building trust with consumers and supporting fair competition in the marketplace.
NAD Fast-Track SWIFT: The Process
NAD Standard Track SWIFT: The Process
NAD Complex Track: The Process
NAD Fast-Track SWIFT: The Process
Reports
The expansion of industry self-regulation programs across industries, most recently with the direct selling and dietary supplement industries, demonstrates how this voluntary system can be a proactive solution to emerging industry challenges.
Recent Case Decisions
National Advertising Division Recommends T-Mobile Discontinue Claims that Consumers Can “Save Up to 50%” with T-Mobile Home Internet
New York, NY – August 18, 2022 – The National Advertising Division (NAD) recommended that T-Mobile discontinue claims that consumers can “save up to 50% vs. National FCC Broadband Rate Benchmark” with T-Mobile Home Internet (T-HINT) and the implied claims that a consumer will save up to 50% if they...
National Advertising Division Finds T-Mobile Home Internet Availability Claim Supported, but Recommends “Save Up to 50%” Claim be Discontinued
New York, NY – August 18, 2022 – The National Advertising Division (NAD) determined T-Mobile US provided a reasonable basis for the claim that its T Mobile Home Internet (T-HINT) is “available to many households in most U.S. cities and towns” and the implied claim that T-HINT is available...
National Advertising Division Finds Certain Claims for Shark Vertex Supported; Recommends Other Vertex and Navigator Pet Pro Vacuum Claims Be Discontinued
New York, NY – August 16, 2022 – The National Advertising Division (NAD) determined that certain “no hair wrap” claims made by SharkNinja Operating, LLC for its Shark Vertex corded vacuum and Vertex Lightweight cordless stick vacuum were supported. NAD recommended that Shark...
NAD Finds Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband Expansion Claim Supported; Recommends 5G Ultra Wideband “Most Reliable” Claim be Discontinued
New York, NY – August 11, 2022 – The National Advertising Division (NAD) determined Verizon provided a reasonable basis for the message in its “Verizon is Going Ultra” commercial that Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband has expanded its coverage. However, NAD recommended that Verizon discontinue the “most reliable”...
BBB National Programs provides summaries of all case decisions in the Case Decision Summary library. For the full text of National Advertising Division, National Advertising Review Board, and Children’s Advertising Review Unit decisions, subscribe to the Online Archive. Other case decisions are available publicly: Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council and Digital Advertising Accountability Program. For members of the press, the full text of any BBB National Programs decision is available by emailing the request to press@bbbnp.org.
Filtered Case Feeds
Online Archive
Gain access to all BBB National Programs full legal decisions in the Online Archive, a unique and valuable resource that provides years of insightful guidance and in-depth knowledge on important advertising issues. Learn more about the Online Archive.
The full text of some case decisions are available publicly: Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council and Digital Advertising Accountability Program. For members of the press, the full text of any BBB National Programs decision is available by emailing the request to press@bbbnp.org.
Latest Announcements
Media Advisory: Sesame Workshop’s Michael Preston and U.S. Representative Kathy Castor to Keynote CARU 2022 Annual Conference
McLean, VA – April 26, 2022 – The Children’s Advertising Review Unit of BBB National Programs will host the virtual CARU 2022 Annual Conference May 10-11, 2022, featuring keynote speakers who will address how to create a better digital world for children and what the U.S. policy landscape looks like for the year...
BBB National Programs Announces 85 Distinguished Panel Pool Members for National Advertising Review Board and New Vice Chair
McLean, VA – January 11, 2022 – BBB National Programs today announced the 85 panel pool members of the 2022 National Advertising Review Board, as well as its 2022 vice chair, Heather Hippsley, who retired in 2020 as Deputy General Counsel of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) where, among many senior roles over...
BBB National Programs Children’s Advertising Review Unit Begins Monitoring Child-Directed Content for Compliance with Revised Advertising Guidelines
McLean, VA – January 4, 2022 – BBB National Programs’ Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) begins monitoring child-directed advertising under the revised CARU Advertising Guidelines, widely recognized industry standards to assure that advertising directed to children is not deceptive,...
BBB National Programs Board of Directors Welcomes IAB CEO David Cohen and Re-Elects Three Members, Including P&G’s Ken Patel as Chair
McLean, VA – December 20, 2021 – The Board of Directors of BBB National Programs, an independent non-profit organization that operates more than a dozen independent industry self-regulation, accountability, and dispute resolution programs, today announced that it has welcomed a new member and re-elected...
Resources
National Advertising Division FAQs
National Advertising Review Board FAQs
CFBAI Uniform Nutrition Criteria
Breaking Down Greenwashing in Advertising
The 4A’s resource, Greenwashing and Advertising: What Your Agency Needs to Know When Making Environmental Claims provides an outline of the rules around making environmental advertising claims and how the National Advertising Division (NAD) and others are helping to regulate them. In the past decade, NAD cases involving environmental claims in advertising have been on the rise. NAD vice president Laura Brett said “Once you see something become a priority for consumers, the response of course is for the industry to offer products that meet that demand, and I think that is why we have seen an increase in challenges to environmental claims, a high-profile issue that a lot of consumers are concerned about.”
Events
National Partners Briefing Series: An Inside Look at CARU
NAD 2022 Annual Conference
CARU Supporter's Fall Meeting
DSA Legal & Regulatory Seminar