{"id":1021,"date":"2011-02-16T13:27:34","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T13:27:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rimonlaw.com\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2021-07-08T19:03:10","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T19:03:10","slug":"nad-knocks-harmony-no-voc-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rimonlaw.com\/nad-knocks-harmony-no-voc-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"NAD Knocks HARMONY No-VOC Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When engaging in national advertising (including via websites), green claims must make clear to which aspect of a product line or business they apply.\u00a0 Claims must be substantiated by evidence, which companies should be prepared to provide in the event that it is sought by consumers or competitors.\u00a0\u00a0 Failure to substantiate one\u2019s green claims may result in a NAD or FTC proceeding, or worse yet, false advertising litigation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As I discussed in my December 13, 2010\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brandgeek.net\/2010\/12\/13\/prevent-deceptive-ads-with-help-from-the-bbb\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">post<\/span><\/a>, The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nadreview.org\/start.aspx\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">National Advertising Division<\/span><\/a>\u00a0(NAD) of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbb.org\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">Council of Better Business Bureaus<\/span><\/a>\u00a0offers a streamlined, self-regulatory mechanism for remedying\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com\/False+Advertising\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">false advertising claims<\/span><\/a>\u00a0made in nationally distributed advertisements.\u00a0 As NAD issues its opinions, I will report on some of those that concern the LOHAS community.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On January 18, 2011, NAD recommended that\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sherwin-williams.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">Sherwin-Williams<\/span><\/a>\u00a0modify its\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/homerepair.about.com\/od\/interiorhomerepair\/ss\/low_voc_paint_5.htm\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">no-VOC<\/span><\/a>\u00a0claims for its HARMONY brand paints, after a challenge by paint manufacturer\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.benjaminmoore.com\/bmpsweb\/portals\/bmps.portal?_nfpb=true&amp;_pageLabel=fh_home&amp;gclid=CKry45et1KYCFSJ0gwodNDhUHA\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">Benjamin Moore<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 I have a personal interest in this case because we chose HARMONY no-VOC paint to re-paint our house after we had a flood in 2009.\u00a0 The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">EPA<\/span><\/a>\u00a0defines\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.epa.gov\/iaq\/voc2.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">VOCs<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as<\/p>\n<div class=\"et-box et-shadow\">\n<div class=\"et-box-content\">. . . any compound of carbon, excluding carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, carbonic acid, metallic carbides or carbonates, and ammonium carbonate, which participates in atmospheric photochemical reactions . . . organic chemical compounds whose composition makes it possible for them to evaoporate under normal indoor atmospheric conditions of temperature and pressure.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Benjamin Moore challenged Sherwin-Williams\u2019 use of these\u00a0<em>express claims<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p><em>No-VOC formula<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Zero-VOC\u00a0 formula\u00a0<\/em>and<\/p>\n<p><em>Formulated without silica and without VOCs for better indoor air quality<\/em><\/p>\n<p>It also challenged the\u00a0<em>implied claim<\/em>\u00a0that\u00a0<em>the full line of Sherwin-Williams paints contain no VOCs<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Both parties agreed that no-VOC or Zero-VOC means that the paint has less than 5.0 grams\/liter (g\/L) VOC.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.narcpartners.org\/DocView.aspx?DocumentID=8374&amp;DocType=1\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">press release<\/span><\/a>\u00a0issued by NAD states that it:<\/p>\n<div class=\"et-box et-shadow\">\n<div class=\"et-box-content\">. . . reviewed express and implied claims made on Sherwin-Williams\u2019 website and in its print advertising.\u00a0 NAD considered the advertisers representation that while certain colors in its HARMONY line would exceed the 5.0 (g\/L) VOC threshold when mixed with conventional colorants, the majority would yield less than 5.0 (g\/L).\u00a0 NAD also reviewed the challenger\u2019s test results (performed by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.calpoly.edu\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">CalPoly<\/span><\/a>\u00a0on behalf of Benjamin Moore), which revealed that certain colors of the HARMONY paint brand had VOC levels of 42 to 112 after being mixed with conventional colorants.\u00a0 NAD also took into consideration the advertiser\u2019s assertion that because the majority of its HARMONY brand paints fall below 5.0 (g\/L) its no-VOC claims are substantiated as to the whole line of HARMONY paint products.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>NAD first determined that Sherwin-Williams\u2019 no-VOC and zero-VOC claims apply to its whole line of HARMONY brand paints.\u00a0 It then recommended that these claims be discontinued or modified to make clear that the addition of conventional colorants to the HARMONY paint line may result in higher VOCs for some colors.<\/p>\n<p>The NAD press releases states that Sherwin-Williams indicated it would take the NAD\u2019s findings into consideration in future advertising,\u00a0 although the Sherwin-Williams\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brandgeek.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/website.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">website<\/span><\/a>\u00a0continues to use the zero-VOC language, as does its\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/brandgeek.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/HARMONY-paint-description.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #5a831a;\">HARMONY product page<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 NAD\u00a0 may refer cases to the FTC if its recommendations are not heeded, so we will have to wait and see what happens in this case.<\/p>\n<p><strong>BrandGeek BrandBite:<\/strong>\u00a0Substantiation, Substantiation, Substantiation!\u00a0 When engaging in national advertising (including via websites), green claims must make clear to which aspect of a product line or business they apply.\u00a0 Claims must be substantiated by evidence, which companies should be prepared to provide in the event that it is sought by consumers or competitors.\u00a0\u00a0 Failure to substantiate one\u2019s green claims may result in a NAD or FTC proceeding, or worse yet, false advertising litigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When engaging in national advertising (including via websites), green claims must make clear to which aspect of a product line or business they apply.\u00a0 Claims must be substantiated by evidence, which companies should be prepared to provide in the event that it is sought by consumers or competitors.\u00a0\u00a0 Failure to substantiate one\u2019s green claims may&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[148,149,141,237,178,236],"ppma_author":[2085],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>NAD Knocks HARMONY No-VOC Claims - Rimon Law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, 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