Following a challenge from competitor GuruNanda, LLC, the Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) National Advertising Division (NAD) ruled that Procter & Gamble (P&G) had a reasonable basis for its whitening claims regarding its Crest 3D Whitening Strips.
The dispute centered on the product labels’ explicit claims of “[X] levels whiter” and “Level [X] whiter,” which ranged from 4 to 34 levels of whitening, and the advertising’s implied claim that most consumers would achieve these whitening improvements.
The NAD review found that the clinical studies and meta-analyses provided by P&G adequately supported its “multi-level whitening” claims and confirmed that the implied claim in the advertisement, that most users would achieve a typical whitening improvement, had a reasonable basis.
However, the NAD also noted that the “multi-level whitening” claim did not indicate that the product could whiten teeth to a specific number of shades.
P&G responded in an advertising statement, “We appreciate the National Advertising Division’s careful review of this advertisement.”
