FTC Advertising Enforcement

The Federal Trade Commission polices advertising where FDA polices labelling. Section 5 of the FTC Act reaches deceptive acts in commerce and section 12 reaches false advertisements for foods, drugs, devices and cosmetics. The operative rule is that any objective claim, express or implied, must be substantiated before it is made, and for a health claim the Commission expects competent and reliable scientific evidence, read in practice as controlled human work on the product itself.

The 2022 Health Products Compliance Guidance restated those expectations across supplements, foods, devices and health apps, replacing the 1998 supplement guide. The Commission also revived its Notice of Penalty Offenses mechanism, putting hundreds of firms on notice about substantiation and endorsements so later violations can carry civil penalties, a route that gained importance after the Supreme Court held in AMG Capital Management v. FTC that section 13(b) does not authorise monetary relief. These guides and lists are revised; the current versions belong to the Commission.

The useful question about any marketer is what evidence had to exist before the sentence was published. Substantiation is a precondition, not a defence assembled afterwards, and it must match the claim: rodent data does not support a human outcome claim, and a mechanism paper does not support a benefit claim.

The recurring error is treating the supplement disclaimer as a shield. It says nothing to the FTC and does not lower the substantiation bar. A second is assuming testimonials substitute for evidence, when an endorsement may not convey a claim the advertiser could not make directly. A third is treating an affiliate's post as someone else's problem when the advertiser supplied the copy.