By Greg Hazley
The Federal Trade Commission hit pomegranate juice marketer POM Wonderful with an administrative complaint on Monday over health claims made in its marketing, charges which the company says are “completely unwarranted.”
The FTC on Sept. 27 charged POM and sister corporation, Roll International, with making false and unsubstantiated claims that its products –Pomegranate Juice and POMx supplements – prevent or treat heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction.
The commission said ads online, in stores and in publications like Fitness and the New York Times violated federal law by making the deceptive claims.
"Any consumer who sees POM Wonderful products as a silver bullet against disease has been misled," said David Vladeck, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Contrary to POM Wonderful's advertising, the available scientific information does not prove that POM Juice or POMx effectively treats or prevents these illnesses.”
Daniel Portolan, who handles corporate communications for POM, said in a statement that the company “fundamentally disagrees” with the FTC and pointed to extensive scientific research and its “First Amendment rights to communicate” the results in pushing back against the FTC action.
“We do not make claims that our products act as drugs,” said the statement. “What we do, rather, is communicate, through advertising, the promising science relating to pomegranates. Consumers and their health providers have a right to know about this research and its results.”
Portolon has not yet been reached about whether the company has brought in PR support. Sitrick and Company helped POM fend off a boycott drive by PETA in 2007.
POM says it has provided more than $34 million to support scientific research on pomegranates over the past decade.
The administrative complaint precedes a hearing before an administrative law judge in eight months.
|