BBB National Programs Blog

Advertising is a cutting-edge industry, so it is no surprise that the ad business has been at the forefront of a global trend building for almost 60 years – independent industry self-regulation. In the U.S., the National Advertising Division is the industry’s widely recognized “truth-in-advertising” body, an independent third party that enables competitors to resolve disputes outside the courtroom. It is the self-regulatory organization (SRO) of the U.S. In this Q&A with Mary Engle, Executive Vice President, Policy, here at BBB National Programs, we dig into what industry self-regulation looks like in other parts of the world.

Substantiating advertising claims is important, both to comply with the law and to avoid regulatory scrutiny or a potential challenge from a competitor in court or in a proceeding before the National Advertising Division (NAD).

Although businesses can advertise the benefits of their products, all messages conveyed by the advertising must be supported by a reasonable basis. Failure to adequately support a health or wellness claim can quickly get a business into trouble.

The recently updated 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs) ask us to “make every bite count.” This is an important message in a year when parents have faced challenges on so many fronts, including cooking for their families and eating at home more often than pre-pandemic. For parents feeding very young children, timely guidance in the form of the latest edition of the DGAs arrived at the end of 2020 when, for the first time, they addressed the diets of infants and toddlers.

Nonprofit organizations are often viewed as fundamentally different than for-profit enterprises, but those of us known as “bridgers” see striking similarities, albeit through a professional bifocal lens. We bridgers have transitioned in our careers from publicly traded or privately owned for-profit enterprises to nonprofit organizations, often with a goal to grow these nonprofits in pursuit of their missions. Our insights from both sides of “the bridge” provide us a dual perspective, where we can see that the needs, limitations and goals of for-profits and nonprofits are closer than they may seem at first glance.

In class action settlements, the cy pres doctrine allows for the distribution of unclaimed settlement funds to non-profit organizations that indirectly benefit the injured class. NAD fulfills its consumer protection mission through its own robust independent monitoring and investigation of misleading advertising in the marketplace.

Though the food advertising world has changed in many ways, health claims continue to play a role in food advertising and present challenges. Today’s food and beverage purchase decisions are influenced by far more than price, taste, familiarity, and brand loyalty.

When the Children’s Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) passed in 1998, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began to approve industry groups to administer an independent, self-regulatory program that implements protections for children as outlined in the COPPA Rule. The Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) was the first such group in the U.S. to receive FTC approval. Learn more about what's behind the CARU Safe Harbor seal.

During this year’s National Consumer Protection Week it's worth taking a closer look at how advertising fits into the consumer protection puzzle. Consumer protection is core to our mission at NAD and critical to a robust and competitive marketplace. Here we outline seven distinct advantages of filing an NAD challenge.

Though the annual celebration of Black History Month is drawing to a close, the plethora of issues raised by the study of Black history must always remain top of mind. For those of us who work in truth in advertising at NAD, we are paying very close attention to the issues of diversity and stereotyping, as presented in various forms of advertising.