NAD recommends Traditional Flower Remedies tones down its claims

NEW YORK The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus on Tuesday recommended that Traditional Flower Remedies discontinue performance claims for the company’s “Calming Essence Cream.”

As part of its routine monitoring program, NAD—the advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum—requested substantiation for advertising claims made in Internet and print advertising and on the product’s packaging claiming that Traditional Flower Remedies’ products helped reduce stress and anxiety. Traditional Flower Remedies stated to the NAD that the flower essence portion of its product is made using the traditional formula first developed by Dr. Edward Bach in England during the 1930s and that another company, Nelson-Bach, has advertised its formula under various brand names including “Rescue Remedy” and “Five Flower Remedy.” The majority of the studies conducted have found Dr. Bach’s homeopathic formula to be successful in relieving stress and anxiety regardless of the cause.

NAD examined evidence that included a clinical study submitted by Traditional Flower Remedies. NAD noted in its decision that the study did not test the advertiser’s product but, rather, tested Bach’s Rescue Remedy. 

NAD also noted that there is no evidence in the record that the tested and advertised products are sufficiently similar so as to allow for the extrapolation and application of the test results on Rescue Remedy to the advertiser’s Calming Essence product.

Although NAD believed that the body of evidence upon which Traditional Flower Remedies relied might, when considered collectively, provide a reasonable basis for properly qualified claims about the composition of the ingredients in the advertised product and its intended function, NAD concluded that it was insufficient to support the specific performance claims made for the product.

The company, in its advertiser’s statement, said that while it disagrees with NAD’s findings, “we will not protest vehemently against them. Instead, we will attempt to revise our ads so that we can continue to assist consumers with their needs while remaining within the NAD’s recommendations.”