NARB Recommends Advertising Changes to Blue Buffalo

In an appeal from a National Advertising Division investigation initiated by Hill’s Pet Nutrition, a National Advertising Review Board (NARB) panel has recommended that Blue Buffalo Co. cease implying that other pet food manufacturers are “fooling” their customers on pet food nutrition. They found that the message of “fooling” was expressly or impliedly in several of Blue Buffalo’s advertisements without support. In addition, the NARB panel recommended that Blue Buffalo change its “True BLUE Test” chart on its website because it “reasonably conveyed the inaccurate message that the absence of checkmarks for a manufacturer meant that all of that manufacturer’s pet food products had specified ‘undesirable’ ingredients and none of that manufacturer’s pet food products has specified ‘desirable’ products.” The chart includes lines indicating that a brand’s products either always or never contain particular ingredients, and NARB found that the phrasing, though accurate, could imply inaccurate information to consumers. For example, a checkmark under “ALWAYS has real meat as the First Ingredient” accurately showed that every product in that brand’s line satisfied that condition, but the chart also implied to consumers that if a brand did not receive a checkmark in that category, none of that brand’s products satisfied that condition—an inaccurate implication. The panel also recommended that any advertising referencing the chart also make clear that the chart compares brands and not specific food products. Blue Buffalo disagreed with NARB’s conclusions, but said that it would “strive to abide by this NARB decision” in future advertisements. See ASRC Press Release, August 21, 2014.

Issue 536