Energy Shot's 'No Crash' Claim Is Disputed by Watchdog
January 4, 2013
The distributor of the top-selling energy "shot," 5-Hour Energy, has long claimed on product labels, in promotions and in television advertisements that the concentrated caffeine drink produced "no crash later" - the type of letdown that consumers of energy drinks often feel when the beverages' effects wear off.
But an advertising watchdog group said on Wednesday that it had told the company five years ago that the claim was unfounded and had urged it then to stop making it.
An executive of the group, the National Advertising Division, also said that 5-Hour Energy's distributor, Living Essentials, had publicly misrepresented the organization's position about the claim and that it planned to start a review that could lead to action against the company by the Federal Trade Commission.
"We recommended that the 'no crash' claim be discontinued because their own evidence showed there was a crash from the product," said Andrea C. Levine, director the National Advertising Division. The organization, which is affiliated with the Council of Better Business Bureaus, reviews ad claims for accuracy.
The emerging dispute between Living Essentials and the National Advertising Division is unusual because the $10 billion energy drink industry is rife with questionable marketing. And Living Essentials, which recently cited the advertising group's support in seeking to defend the "no crash" claim, may have opened the door to greater scrutiny.

Click the link below for the rest of the article!

Posted by Ken at 1:43 AM