Health, Beauty And Wellness News: POM Wonderful On 'Health Scare' Swim In Ad
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Online, pamphlet claims trip Baker's Best; MusclePharm maintains turnaround progress; Kameka enters probiotic market through AB-Biotics; and POM Wonderful ad swims on humor.
Online, pamphlet claims snag Baker's Best
Claims made online and in printed pamphlets, including vitamin D "reduces cancer risk,” render Baker’s Best Health Products Inc.'s dietary supplements unapproved and misbranded drugs, FDA says in an April 25 warning letter. FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs Division East 6 submitted the letter to the Wixom, Mich., after inspecting its facility in December 2017 and reviewing its website and its pamphlets, which were collected during the inspection and which promoted its "Colon Formula," Eterni-D, "Triple Action Joint Formula" and "Apple Cider Vinegar+" products. Online claims for Eterni-D included "breakthrough blend combines three highly effective ingredients that can help fight high blood pressure, high blood sugar levels … constipation, obesity ...” while the product pamphlet stated the cancer claim. Baker’s Best promoted its Triple Action Joint Formula online with claims including "nourish joints to reduce aches and discomfort” and in print with the testimonial, "I have arthritis and fibromyalgia, and your joint formula helps both," according to the letter. Misbranding for the Eterni-D supplement was found in the product pamphlet, which stated it is "manufactured in an FDA-approved lab under strict quality control guidelines," although the agency does not approve dietary supplement labs or manufacturing facilities. Other branding errors included incorrectly identifying ingredients or serving sizes on labels.
POM Wonderful dramatizes "health awakening" events in ads featuring a man living with a dolphin impaled in his body.
POM Wonderful ad swims in humor
The Wonderful Co.'s research showed customers often begin drinking its POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice after a "health awakening," an event the firm dramatizes with a man living with a dolphin impaled in his body. The Los Angeles-based firm on May 14 said the "Dolphin" campaign, developed by its own creative team in its largest spend for digital marketing, features a man who doesn’t let the “health scare” of an impaled dolphin slow him. Instead, he and his wife realize his "life-changing experience was just the wake-up call they needed to take their health more seriously," and their response includes "incorporating POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice into their diet for antioxidants and a good source of potassium." Ads will be aired in "The Doctors" and "Dr. Oz" TV programs; WebMD, CNN Health, and FoxNews Health online programming; and on screens in doctors’ offices. The firm said the "spots poke fun at mundane pharmaceutical industry advertisements and use humor to talk about what people typically want to avoid: what they should do after a health scare." Wonderful's chief creative officer, Darren Moran, said the campaign is intended "to deliver the POM message in a way that’s impossible to ignore."
The campaign is a shift for the firm, which changed its name from Roll Global LLC in 2015, away from advertising that featured animated knights, lancers and other fantasy characters to represent ingredients in POM products battling against harmful substances in consumers' diets. The Federal Trade Commission has not objected to the animated characters in Wonderful Co., ads but in 2013 it imposed an order requiring the firm to pulls claims for POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice and POMx pills and liquid supplements. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in 2015 largely upheld FTC's order and the Supreme Courtin 2016 denied the firm's writ of certiorari to review the ruling. (Also see "Supreme Court Slays POM Wonderful's Appeal Of FTC Order" - HBW Insight, 3 May, 2016.)
Kameka enters probiotic market through AB-Biotics
Kaneka Corp. acquired a 34.8% share of Spanish probiotics firm [AB-Biotics SA] focused on research, development and distribution of products formulated with lactic acid bacteria and gained an exclusive license for production and sales of ABB's products in the US, Canada and Japan. Tokyo-based Kaneka on May 14 said it aims to accomplish Yen 10bn ($90.6m) sales in 2022 by developing and launching products using its and ABB's technology. Barcelona-based ABB has more than 550 original probiotic strains extracted from human origin samples and sells to health food and pharma companies worldwide a range of clinically documented probiotics products, which improve the intestinal environment and have clear effects to decrease risk of cardiovascular, periodontal and infectious diseases. Kaneka says the market size of health foods using lactic acid bacteria has passed $2bn in the US and Canada while in Japan numerous new products such as yogurt, drinks and dietary supplements containing lactic acid bacteria have been launched with expectations for record demand. Kaneka is expanding its functional food business globally with food business globally with regenerative co-enzyme Q10 Kaneka QH, Kaneka Gravonoid licorice-derived polyphenol and plant-derived lactic acid bacillus. It also has started a dairy products business in Japan under technical cooperation with Belgian firm Pur Natur Invest BVBA.
MusclePharm maintains turnaround progress
MusclePharm Corp. in the first quarter increased its revenues and trimmed its loss for the second consecutive quarter, marking progress toward sustained growth. The sports nutrition and lifestyle dietary supplement manufacturer and marketer, which has moved its headquarters to Burbank, Calif., on May 14 reported revenues up 4% to $26.5m for the January-March period and its net loss down 8% from the year-ago period to $2.3m,16 cents per share. President and CEO Ryan Drexler announced recent commitments to sell MusclePharm products from retailers including Walmart Canada, Circle K, Wegmans, Giant Eagle and Gateway Newstands and to expand distribution in Canada drugstore chain Shoppers Drug Mart. "These commitments are indicative of our strategic intent to diversify our customer base and effectively capitalize on a meaningful shift that is happening in sports nutrition," Drexler said in the firm's earnings release. MusclePharm also is "experiencing solid growth" in e-commerce and in international sales, Drexler said. The firm also conducted qualitative focus group research to more deeply understand core consumer segments' needs and perceptions and invested in advertising to expand its Amazon.com presence and optimize placement within the e-commerce site's search ecosystem.