FTC Clarifies Industry Advertising Standards

WASHINGTON—The FTC in November issued its promised plain-English guide for advertising standards within the dietary supplements industry. The document has been more than a year in coming, but according to the agency, it includes no changes in the regulatory approach to industry advertising.

Dietary Supplements: An Advertising Guide for the Industry describes the basic principles of advertising law in three sections. The first two sections explain how the FTC identifies the claims conveyed by an ad and how it evaluates the adequacy of substantiation for those claims. The third section covers consumer testimonials, expert endorsements, and advertising claims based on historic or traditional use. Examples from the supplements industry illustrate how those principles apply in practice.

"These guidelines are a useful initial effort to clarify FTC's criteria for evaluating dietary supplements," says John Cordaro, president and CEO of CRN. Cordaro adds that FTC deserves credit for involving industry members and consumer groups in the process.

FTC also hopes the guide will clarify its interaction with FDA. FTC and FDA operate under a long-standing liaison agreement that divides the responsibilities of the two agencies: FTC for advertising claims and FDA for labeling.

A complete copy of FTC's regulatory guidelines is available at www.ftc.gov on the Web.