The Dutch Advertising Code Committee (Reclame Code
Commissie, RCC), received a complaint about communications in
a brochure and on the website of the Stichting Bewegen Zonder
Pijn (SBZP). The communications referred to a specific
combination of ingredients. They seemed to be purely informative.
But according to pharmaceutical industry association Neprofarm,
they actually involved surreptitious advertising, partly
originating from Synofit, a manufacturer of dietary supplements,
for its product Synofit Premium. In a short film featuring a
pharmacist, the reader is urged to use Google to search for a
product that contains a combination of the ingredients in question.
The consumer is then shown an AdWord advertisement for Synofit
Premium. The SBZP asserts that this is not an
‘advertisement' but ‘information' about
which individual ingredients soothe joint pain. Synofit, in turn,
claims that it had nothing to do with either the SBZP or the
communications.
