The National Advertising Division—an industry-leading self-regulatory agency that resolves advertising disputes—recently issued its 2024 annual report (available here). The Kilpatrick Advertising and Marketing Team, which regularly appears before the NAD, has reviewed the report in detail and provides the following key takeaways:
NAD By the Numbers: Fast track cases are up, appeals are down, decisions are being issued faster, and voluntary compliance is improving. A banner year for NAD!
- Fast-Track case filings have nearly tripled in the past three years. Challengers clearly want, and are getting, fast results.
- There were 40% more Fast-Track SWIFT challenges resolved in 2024 versus 2023.
- NAD has improved its time-to-decision by 20%.
- Appeals are down – 8% in 2024 as compared to 13% in 2023.
- 15-20% of NAD cases were initiated by NAD itself (known as “monitoring cases”).
- From 2021-2024, NAD referred an average of 5 cases per year to FTC. This is down from an average of 12 per year during 2013-2020.
- Telecom, Consumer Goods, and Cosmetics held a three-way tie for industries with the most challenges, followed by Drugs/Health/Health Aids and then Food & Beverage.
- 2024 saw an increase in challenges to ads issued by small companies that had not previously participated in NAD proceedings, and several challenges filed by small companies as well.
Topics of Interest: NAD demonstrated particular interest in several key areas in 2024.
- Fake Reviews. NAD credited the FTC’s new rule against fake reviews for generating additional interest in this area in 2024.
- Influencer Marketing. This is a rapidly growing marketing channel. Marketers would do will to familiarize themselves with the FTC’s Endorsement Guides to ensure compliance.
- Health, Cosmetic and Beauty claims. Lots of ads in these industries include “clinically proven” claims, which require high-quality substantiation.
- Artificial Intelligence. A very hot area these days. The usual rules still apply!
- Food, Beverage, and Dietary Supplement Claims. A constant target of NAD monitoring cases, because marketing in these sectors often involve claims consumers find very compelling but cannot evaluate for themselves.
