The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charging Pom Wonderful for making unsupported claims in their advertisements, according to an article from The New York Times by Edward Wyatt (Regulators Call Health Claims in Pom Juice Ads Deceptive).
Their advertisements assert that drinking the Pom Wonderful juice helps to reduce the risk of heart disease, prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction, but the FTC asks them to halt medical claims in their advertisements until they are supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because Pom Wonderful research, although they claim to have spent $34 million on it, is not conclusive and in some cases didn’t produce notable support statistically (Wyatt).
“… [The] results ignored the fact, the commission contended, that as early as May 2007 the company knew that a large study financed by the company showed no significant difference in arterial plaque buildup after 18 months between patients who drank Pom and those who drank a placebo” (Wyatt).
 |
| Ad from Fitness magazine, taken from nytimes.com |
Pom wonderful retaliated by filing a lawsuit against the FTC arguing that it is their first amendment right to share their research findings with the public and issued a press release, which is posted on their website, “POM to FTC: ‘Stop Persecuting Pomegranates!’”
“Because POM products may in fact offer the promise of better health, we believe it is important to share the research results as they become available. This is especially true since our products do not carry the risks associated with pharmaceutical drugs…. We do not make claims that our products act as drugs. What we do, rather, is communicate, through advertising, the promising science relating to pomegranates. Consumers and their health providers have a right to know about this research and its results” (POM).
So, who is right, Pom Wonderful or the FTC? While it is Pom’s first amendment right to publish factual information about a food, is it the FDA’s responsibility to approve the efficacy of a food if there are claims being made regarding health?
Time will tell, as the hearing is scheduled for May 2011; however, I hope that Pom Wonderful has more money stowed away in their research fund because it would be wise for them to conduct social research of their publics to find out if consumers will be less likely to trust them and their products now. The research would help Pom to prepare for a possible drop in sales by gathering information to design a new campaign. For example, did people buy the juice just because they like it, or because of the health claims communicated in its advertising? I’m not sure, but at around $6 per 16 oz bottle, I’m guessing there’s more to it than just taste.
Of course, Pom Wonderful could just submit their findings to the FDA. After all, if they “stand behind the vast body of scientific research documenting the healthy properties of Wonderful variety pomegranates,” what do they have to lose?
No comments:
Post a Comment