Do Not Disrespect NAD: FTC Stresses Compliance With Self-Regulatory Groups

The decision by the maker of Sunpill sunscreen tablets not to comply with the National Advertising Division's recommendations to change its advertising claims is an uncommon response that will get the Federal Trade Commission's attention, Lesley Fair, senior attorney in FTC's Division of Consumer Education, says.

Noncompliance with self-regulation groups' recommendations raises red flags at the commission, Fair said at a May 1 advertising law conference held in Washington by the American Conference Institute.

The attorney warned attendees that "dissing" recommendations by NAD and other groups is a "high-risk form of conduct."

Fair later told "The Tan Sheet" that "any case referred to the commission from NAD ... gets a careful evaluation by FTC staff."

NAD said May 10 it would refer Pure Pharmaceuticals to the FTC for enforcement after the Miami-based firm rejected recommended changes to its claims Sunpill is a substitute for topical products that block harmful rays.

NAD says it opened 165 claims review cases in 2004 and referred 15 to the FTC after firms did not comply with recommendations that emerged from the reviews. In 2005, NAD opened 170 cases and referred 12 to FTC.

At the conference, David Mallen, NAD's assistant director for legal affairs, said the group is receiving and reviewing complaints about advertising for health products as well as conducting its own reviews.

"Health and nutrition is probably at the forefront ... of our monitoring efforts for sure, but it is also an area of consumer complaint and increasingly competitive challenges," Mallen said.

"We are looking at them a lot now, and we are going to be looking at them a lot more in the future - both in competitive challenges and in monitoring situations," Mallen said.

- Malcolm Spicer ([email protected])