SC Johnson Forces Colgate-Palmolive to DUST OFF Its Research Findings
SC Johnson & Sons, Inc., through the National Advertising Division (”NAD”), challenged Colgate-Palmolive’s recent claims pertaining to Murphy Soft-Wipes pre-moistened dust cloths. Among the claims SC Johnson found questionable were those found in a newspaper FSI, stating the product:
SC Johnson, a Colgate-Palmolive competitor, asserted that the claims made in the advertising and on the product packaging were false, misleading, and unsubstantiated, and requested substantiation of the claim that the Soft-Wipes actually repelled dust. In response, Colgate-Palmolive provided NAD with proprietary evidence showing that the Soft-Wipes comtained anti-static agents that, when applied to a surface, created electrical charges that repelled dust.
Because SC Johson was not allowed to view the actual claims (Colgate-Palmolive released them only to NAD, claiming trade secret in the results), it tested the product in its own laboratories and provided those non-proprietary results to NAD. The SC Johnson results show that there was no difference in the dust collection rate of surfaces cleaned with a regular dust product and surfaces cleaned with a Soft-Wipe.
In reviewing the evidence from both parties, NAD found that in fact, Colgate-Palmolive had not met its burden of showing that there was a reasonable basis for claiming that the Soft-Wipes actively repelled dust. Colgate-Palmolive issued a statement vehemently disagreeing with the findings of NAD. Nonetheless, it has relaunched the product with a new advertising campaign, pending new test results.
Practice Pointer: Under Section 5 of the FTC Act, the advertiser has the initial burden of presenting a reasonable basis for its claims. While a “reasonable basis” can amount to internal laboratory testing of a premise, standard practice is to have tests conducted by an independent laboratory.