National Advertising Division
Program Impact
Truth & Transparency
Voluntary self-regulation helps create an honest and fair marketplace. Companies benefit from a level playing field and consumers benefit from a more trustworthy marketplace. A 90% participation rate demonstrates the depth of industry’s commitment to self-regulation and truth and transparency.Issues We Examine
NAD’s legal team specializes in examining advertising claims for a diverse set of goods and services like telecommunications, infant nutrition, over-the-counter medication, and dietary supplements for a wide variety of issues from product efficacy to influencer marketing and the use of consumer reviews.Time & Cost
The NAD process resolves advertising disputes efficiently and almost always faster than a court proceeding. There is no document discovery or depositions, no counterclaims, and the process requires less investment in time and cost than litigating a case.Navigating Uncertainty
NAD has a published body of case precedent and is staffed by decision makers dedicated to resolving advertising disputes, using a process that provides advertisers the right to appeal adverse decisions to the National Advertising Review Board (NARB).
For the last 50 years in the advertising industry, companies have held each other to a higher standard. In response to the pressures and criticisms of consumerism that had mounted during the previous decade, in 1971 the advertising industry established the National Advertising Division (NAD) and National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the U.S. mechanism of independent self-regulation that has stood the test of time and technological innovation.
NAD Challenges
NAD offers three options for submitting challenges for review: Standard Track, Complex Track, and Fast-Track SWIFT. Click on the options below for more information on each track's process, challenge eligibility requirements, timeline, and fees to determine which track is best suited to handle your needs. BBB National Programs National Partners receive a discount on filing fees.
Fast-Track SWIFT
Single-issue digital advertising cases with decisions in 20 business days. Learn MoreComplex Track
Cases requiring complex substantiation. Time to decision is determined by the parties. Learn More
Why Use NAD for Advertising Challenges
When a competitor’s advertising harms consumer trust or threatens a company’s reputation and market share, decision makers need to answer three key questions:
- Which forum will resolve my challenge most efficiently—federal court, Federal Trade Commission complaint, or NAD challenge?
The NAD process promotes truthful advertising resolving advertising disputes efficiently. Unless advertising is so misleading and causing sufficient harm that a temporary restraining order application will likely succeed, the NAD process is typically faster than a court proceeding.
- How much will it cost?
Filing a challenge with NAD is almost always more cost effective than other options. There is no document discovery. There is no deposition. The matter cannot be delayed by filing counterclaims. Our streamlined process saves time and money.
- What are the risks?
Because NAD has a published body of case precedent and is staffed by decision makers dedicated to resolving advertising disputes, the outcome is more predictable than a court proceeding where individual judges have crowded dockets of a wide array of cases and different decision-making styles. Our procedures provide advertisers with an automatic right to appeal adverse decisions to the self-regulatory system’s peer review body, the National Advertising Review Board.
NAD’s Monitoring Program
As part of its public interest mission to ensure consumers receive truthful and accurate advertising messages, NAD initiates approximately 20-25% of its cases each year based on its own monitoring of advertising in a wide variety of product categories. The goal of NAD’s monitoring cases is to expand the universe of advertising claims that are reviewed for truth and transparency and provide guidance for future advertising. In determining whether to open a monitoring case, NAD considers whether the advertising meets one or more of the following criteria:
- Targets a vulnerable population (elderly, children, special needs, etc.);
- Capitalizes on consumer fears or misunderstanding;
- Fills a gap in regulatory efforts of the FTC and state AGs;
- Addresses novel or emerging issue of interest for the advertising industry;
- Concerns claims that consumers cannot evaluate for themselves;
- Achieves diversity among industries that historically participate in self-regulation.
Policies & Procedures
Any company, consumer, or non-governmental organization can file a challenge with NAD. We handle about 150 cases each year and our decisions represent the single largest body of advertising decisions in the United States. The NAD | NARB Policies and Procedures describe the details and parameters of NAD's challenge review process.
News & Blog
BBB National Programs National Advertising Division Launches Expedited Fast-Track SWIFT Lane Designed to Address Misleading Advertising Disclosures
703-247-9330 / press@bbbnp.org
New York, NY – November 9, 2021 – Mindful of recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actions, BBB National Programs today announced a new, streamlined lane of the expedited Fast-Track SWIFT challenge submission process, one designed specifically to address the prominence and sufficiency of disclosures in national advertising.
The National Advertising Division (NAD), which in April 2020 launched Fast-Track SWIFT to meet the compelling need for quick resolution of truth and transparency issues that arise in advertising, today enhanced that process to make the challenge of misleading advertising disclosures more efficient.
This fully online process is intended to streamline and simplify cases to encourage use of Fast-Track SWIFT for influencer marketing, consumer reviews, and dark pattern issues that arise when material information is not disclosed, leading to consumer distrust in advertising. The new lane of Fast-Track SWIFT will use existing procedures but removes the requirement to submit a letter with the challenge (now optional) and reduces the filing fee.
“With the FTC’s recent focus on endorsements and dark patterns, we know that companies are taking a hard look at their own advertising practices,” said Laura Brett, Vice President, National Advertising Division, BBB National Programs. “Companies should use Fast-Track SWIFT, including this new lane on disclosures, to raise the bar across their industry and restore consumer trust in the online marketplace. Consumers should not have to search for information needed to understand an advertisement.”
To learn more about the process and how to file a Fast-Track SWIFT challenge, visit bbbprograms.org/NAD-Fast-Track-SWIFT.
###
About BBB National Programs: BBB National Programs is where businesses turn to enhance consumer trust and consumers are heard. The non-profit organization creates a fairer playing field for businesses and a better experience for consumers through the development and delivery of effective third-party accountability and dispute resolution programs. Embracing its role as an independent organization since the restructuring of the Council of Better Business Bureaus in June 2019, BBB National Programs today oversees more than a dozen leading national industry self-regulation programs, and continues to evolve its work and grow its impact by providing business guidance and fostering best practices in arenas such as advertising, child-directed marketing, and privacy. To learn more, visit bbbprograms.org.
About the National Advertising Division: The National Advertising Division (NAD), a division of BBB National Programs, provides independent self-regulation and dispute resolution services, guiding the truthfulness of advertising across the U.S. NAD reviews national advertising in all media and its decisions set consistent standards for advertising truth and accuracy, delivering meaningful protection to consumers and leveling the playing field for business.
Pursuing Best Practices For Representation In Advertising
Ad Watchers: Putting Ads to the Truthfulness Test
Decisions
BBB National Programs National Advertising Division Launches Expedited Fast-Track SWIFT Lane Designed to Address Misleading Advertising Disclosures
703-247-9330 / press@bbbnp.org
New York, NY – November 9, 2021 – Mindful of recent Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actions, BBB National Programs today announced a new, streamlined lane of the expedited Fast-Track SWIFT challenge submission process, one designed specifically to address the prominence and sufficiency of disclosures in national advertising.
The National Advertising Division (NAD), which in April 2020 launched Fast-Track SWIFT to meet the compelling need for quick resolution of truth and transparency issues that arise in advertising, today enhanced that process to make the challenge of misleading advertising disclosures more efficient.
This fully online process is intended to streamline and simplify cases to encourage use of Fast-Track SWIFT for influencer marketing, consumer reviews, and dark pattern issues that arise when material information is not disclosed, leading to consumer distrust in advertising. The new lane of Fast-Track SWIFT will use existing procedures but removes the requirement to submit a letter with the challenge (now optional) and reduces the filing fee.
“With the FTC’s recent focus on endorsements and dark patterns, we know that companies are taking a hard look at their own advertising practices,” said Laura Brett, Vice President, National Advertising Division, BBB National Programs. “Companies should use Fast-Track SWIFT, including this new lane on disclosures, to raise the bar across their industry and restore consumer trust in the online marketplace. Consumers should not have to search for information needed to understand an advertisement.”
To learn more about the process and how to file a Fast-Track SWIFT challenge, visit bbbprograms.org/NAD-Fast-Track-SWIFT.
###
About BBB National Programs: BBB National Programs is where businesses turn to enhance consumer trust and consumers are heard. The non-profit organization creates a fairer playing field for businesses and a better experience for consumers through the development and delivery of effective third-party accountability and dispute resolution programs. Embracing its role as an independent organization since the restructuring of the Council of Better Business Bureaus in June 2019, BBB National Programs today oversees more than a dozen leading national industry self-regulation programs, and continues to evolve its work and grow its impact by providing business guidance and fostering best practices in arenas such as advertising, child-directed marketing, and privacy. To learn more, visit bbbprograms.org.
About the National Advertising Division: The National Advertising Division (NAD), a division of BBB National Programs, provides independent self-regulation and dispute resolution services, guiding the truthfulness of advertising across the U.S. NAD reviews national advertising in all media and its decisions set consistent standards for advertising truth and accuracy, delivering meaningful protection to consumers and leveling the playing field for business.
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. For members of the press, the full text of any BBB National Programs decision is available by emailing the request to press@bbbnp.org.
Upcoming Events
Council for Responsible Nutrition's ABCs of Children’s Supplements
ACI’s Legal, Regulatory & Compliance Forum on Dietary Supplements
Practising Law Institute (PLI) Hot Topics in Advertising Law 2022
NAD 2022 Annual Conference
Resources
NAD 2021 Annual Report
NAD 2020 Annual Report
COVID-19 False Advertising Cases
NAD Fast-Track SWIFT Infographic
NAD Standand Track Infographic
NAD Complex Track Infographic
Telecommunications Digest
Environmental Digest
Cosmetics, Anti-Aging, and Personal Care Digest
Digital Marketing Digest
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.