In addition to the Federal Trade Commission, the National Advertising Division (NAD) has also been active with cases regarding COVID-19 claims. In the latest case, the NAD announced that Nomolotus, LLC, d/b/a Truvani, discontinued a social media post for its immune support dietary supplement (formerly called Under the Weather) as well as two customer reviews referring to COVID-19.
Through its monitoring program, the NAD challenged Truvani’s social media post with the text “Support Your Immune Health Now . . . Or Kick Yourself Later” and an associated text stating “Right now everyone is thinking about their immune health.”
The NAD also challenged two customer reviews on the product’s webpage that stated “Michael K. (Verified Buyer): ‘Very happy with the product, I feel BC so well protected from COVID-19 with your supplements,’ and Theresa O. (Verified Buyer): ‘I really think I had undiagnosed corona virus. Nothing helped. Until I started taking Under the Weather. A few days later, I started improving. I haven’t stopped taking it since.’”
The NAD questioned whether the social media post conveyed messages regarding the product’s ability to protect against COVID-19. The NAD also questioned whether the reviews were presented as testimonials that conveyed the same message and requested substantiation for the statements.
The NAD clearly was concerned about the social media post and the testimonials making claims about immune health in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to the NAD’s inquiry, Truvani stated that neither its advertising nor its customer reviews conveyed any messages regarding COVID-19. Nonetheless, it permanently discontinued the social media post and the customer reviews at issue, and added filters to its review widget to prevent any similar language in the future.