NMN Supplement Firm Works On Disclosing Sales Relationships With Advertising Affiliates
Executive Summary
Renue By Science agrees with National Advertising Division recommendations to “clearly and conspicuously disclose” material connections in online advertising by employees, nonprofits and others offering sales to its supplements containing nicotinamide mononucleotide, quercetin or resveratrol.
A Florida firm agrees, following an industry self-regulation group’s review on a challenge by an undisclosed competitor, to more prominently disclose material connections with third parties, including an employee, promoting its dietary supplements containing an ingredient under regulatory scrutiny.
Renue By Science LLC agreed with recommendations by BBB National Program Inc.’s National Advertising Division to “clearly and conspicuously disclose” material connections in online advertising, including YouTube videos, posted by nonprofit groups and other third parties which offer sales to its supplements containing nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), quercetin or resveratrol.
According to the case report published on 25 May, the advertising was challenged by IO Law LLC, a Washington, DC, firm. Neither the NAD, which reviewed the advertising in its fast-track program because the challenge was for a single, well-defined issue, nor IO Law would disclose the business IO Law was representing, or whether the law firm made the challenge on its own.
NAD and other BBB National Program investigative units, which make nonbinding recommendations, will review challenges submitted by parties which aren’t competitors with firms using the targeted adverting; challenges most often are made by competitors, industry associations or nonprofit groups.
Some videos IO Law challenged were posted by an employee of the Jacksonville-based firm and were pulled during the review.
In one – titled “NMN BANNED?” – the employee “discusses the current regulatory status of NMN and speaks positively about the supplement generally without touting any particular brand,” according to the report.
IO Law argued that the employee’s content appears to be “non-commercial looking testimonial-style videos or neutral third-party endorsements where an individual affiliated” with Renue By Science discusses the benefits of NMN. But disclosures in the videos failed to identify the employee’s material connection to Renue By Science in the video or "prominently in the video description.”
advertising for revue by science's supplements CHALLENGED IN A NAD REVIEW included online videos posted by an employee.
Source: Shutterstock
NAD attorneys recommended Renue By Science “inform the employee of their obligation to clearly and conspicuously disclose in her own video that the speaker is an employee.”
The challenge also noted two other online videos about Renue By Science products, including one – the “Modern Healthspan Video” – which NAD attorneys said didn’t require any further disclosures.
“The nature of the video was fully commercial, with a third-party seller announcing available discount offers … rather than editorial,” the attorneys said.
However, the firm’s “Alive By Science Review Video” doesn’t appear to be commercial. The content “”gives the impression of a neutral third-party endorsement” and “touts NMN and certain positive attributes” of Renue By Science’s products, the attorneys found.
They noted that while the video description includes a written disclosure, “there is no disclosure made in the video itself,” which included “review” in its title and “would be reasonably understood by consumers as editorial content.”
BBB National Programs' reviews of endorsement and testimonial claims align with the Federal Trade Commission’s rules, for which the agency in May 2022 published a proposed update which could put advertisers in the crosshairs for posting fake positive reviews or suppressing bad ones, as well as for making disclosures difficult for consumers to miss. (Also see "US FTC Targets Fake Online Reviews, Expanded Liability, With Proposed Endorsement Guides Update" - HBW Insight, 2 Jun, 2022.)
‘More Clearly Identify' Who's Paid
IO Law also argued that a website operated by a food equity advocacy group had “the look and feel of a mission-driven nonprofit” but “blends content relating to the nonprofit’s mission with advertising for” Renue By Science without disclosing its relationship with the firm.
Renue By Science advised NAD attorneys it has a contractual relationship with the website and others which post affiliate links and are required entities to disclose the affiliate relationship. Although during the review the website noted by IO Law was modified to include a disclosure, the change didn’t satisfy the attorneys.
Text on the upper right of the page in a size similar to other text on the page stated, “I am an affiliate for some of the brands promoted on my website. If you buy through my link or use my code, I will earn commissions.”
The attorneys said even though “the disclosure is sufficiently prominent and viewable without scrolling,” they recommended further changes to clearly disclosed affiliate relationships with Renue By Science and other product marketers “and to more clearly identify who is receiving the commissions, rather than using the singular pronoun ‘I’.”
NMN A Concern For FDA And Industry
Renue By Science and other firms could be pulling all advertising for NMN-containing supplements after the Food and Drug Administration decides whether to follow through on its finding that because the ingredient has been studied as a drug, it’s excluded from use as an ingredient in food and supplement products sold in the US.
Although NMN-containing supplements remain available, regulatory questions over the derivative of vitamin B3, or niacin, with potential for anti-aging and metabolic benefits started after Chinese firm Inner Mongolia Kingdomway Pharmaceutical Ltd. submitted a new dietary ingredient notification to the FDA July 2022.
In its response to the firm, the FDA cited regulations established under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 prohibiting the use in supplements of dietary ingredients which have been studied or approved for use as a drug.
However, prior to its response to Kingdomway, the agency had previously acknowledged an NDI notification for NMN without objection and had not publicly raised concerns about the ingredient’s use in supplements..
The FDA’s position on NMN is challenged in citizen petitions submitted by trade groups, one making a broader argument that the agency is misusing its regulation prohibiting any substance studied or approved as a drug in the US from being used as dietary ingredients. (Also see "US Dietary Ingredient ‘Preclusion’ Swings On Information Closed To Supplement Industry – CRN" - HBW Insight, 12 May, 2023.)
Supplement industry stakeholders also note that the FDA excluded N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) from use in supplements for a similar reason in 2020 before pushback, including petitions and a lawsuit, led it to change its stance. (Also see "It’s Official: US Enforcement Discretion For NAC In Supplements, And Regulatory Options For FDA" - HBW Insight, 21 Apr, 2022.)