NAD Decision Shows ​"Simple" Claims Can Be Complicated

In the spring, we posted about a case involving a heavy dose of makeup. As the summer heat sets in, you may be thinking about a more minimalist approach to your personal care products. If so, Native has you in mind with a line of products it claims has "simple" ingredients and is "Clean. Simple. Effective." SC Johnson filed an NAD action challenging the "simple" claims (among other things) and much of the dispute centered around what that word conveys to consumers.

SC Johnson argued that consumers will understand "simple" in the tagline to mean that the ingredients in the products are not complex and that they are minimally processed. Native countered that the word just conveys the message that Native products use fewer ingredients. NAD sided with Native and determined that because the tagline is visually separate from the ingredient list, reasonable consumers would understand that "simple," in this context, refers to the product as a whole and not to the