FTC: Dannon Agrees to Drop Activia and DanActive Health Claims

As part of its ongoing efforts to make sure that marketers do not overstate the health benefits of their products, the FTC charged that Dannon’s ads were deceptive because it did not have substantiation for its claims.

12/16/2010 --- The Dannon Company, Inc. has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges of deceptive advertising and drop claims that allegedly exaggerated the health benefits of its Activia yogurt and DanActive dairy drink. These two popular Dannon products contain beneficial bacteria known as probiotics. Dannon will stop claiming that one daily serving of Activia relieves irregularity, and that DanActive helps people avoid catching colds or the flu.

According to the FTC’s complaint, Dannon claimed in nationwide advertising campaigns that DanActive helps prevent colds and flu, and that one daily serving of Activia relieves temporary irregularity and helps with “slow intestinal transit time.” In television, Internet, and print ads, as well as on product packaging, Dannon also stated that there was scientific proof to back up these claims.

As part of its ongoing efforts to make sure that marketers do not overstate the health benefits of their products, the FTC charged that Dannon’s ads were deceptive because it did not have substantiation for its claims. The Commission also charged that Dannon’s claims that Activia and DanActive were clinically proven were false.

“These types of misleading claims are enough to give consumers indigestion,” said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. “Consumers want, and are entitled to, accurate information when it comes to their health. Companies like Dannon shouldn’t exaggerate the strength of scientific support for their products.”

In one television advertisement for Activia yogurt, actress Jamie Lee Curtis lounges on a couch holding a newspaper. She tells viewers that many people suffer from irregularity, and that “our busy lives sometimes force us to eat the wrong things at the wrong time.” She reassures viewers that Activia can help.

The screen then shows a woman’s midsection, on which a clump of yellow-green balls is superimposed, representing the transit of food through the digestive system. The balls merge into a downward-facing arrow, which moves off the screen while a man’s voice states, “With the natural culture Bifidus Regularis, Activia eaten every day is clinically proven to help regulate your digestive system in two weeks.”

According to the FTC’s complaint, Dannon’s advertisements for DanActive conveyed to consumers that drinking the product reduces the likelihood of getting a cold or flu. In one television ad, a boy takes an exam at school, plays baseball in the rain, and gets thrown to a mat during a martial arts class. The color drains from his face and body as he arrives home, and his mother hands him a bottle of DanActive. A graphic shows Dannon’s probiotic ingredient, L. casei Immunitas, plugging holes in the intestinal wall so that purple balls bounce off the wall rather than entering the holes. As a voiceover assures that DanActive is “clinically proven to help strengthen your body’s defenses,” color returns to the boy’s face and body and he is surrounded by a new, protective, yellow shield as he runs out of the house.