Dannon will stop claiming that one daily serving of Activia yogurt relieves irregularity and that its DanActive dairy drink helps people avoid catching colds or flu, the Federal Trade Commission announced on Wednesday.
"These types of misleading claims are enough to give consumers indigestion," says FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. "Companies like Dannon shouldn't exaggerate the strength of scientific support for their products."
The move signals a more aggressive federal watchdog roll over deceptive advertising practices by major marketers under the Obama administration
The FTC charged that Dannon's ads were deceptive because it did not have substantiation for its claims. The commission also charged that Dannon's claims that Activia and DanActive were clinically proven were false.
The FTC complaint and settlement can be downloaded from the FTC website at: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2010/12/dannon.shtm.
Here are some tips on substantiation of product claims: http://business.ftc.gov/documents/substantiation-science-compliance.
