Transcript 07GreyGoose

New York, NY - March 6, 2003 - The National
Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of
Better Business Bureaus, Inc., the advertising
industry's self-regulatory forum, recommended
that Sidney Frank Importing Company, Inc.,
modify comparative and superiority advertising
claims for its product, Grey Goose Vodka. The
truth and accuracy of Grey Goose's advertising
was brought to the attention of the NAD by
competing importer and marketer of Belvedere
Vodka, Millennium Import Company.
SOURCE: NAD press release
NAD recognized Sidney Frank's right to advertise
its own commendable 1998 BTI rating, but
concluded that subsequent BTI testing indicated
that the advertised 1998 rating for competing
product Belvedere Vodka, was likely atypical and
unrepresentative of the quality of the competing
product and an inaccurate reflection of its more
current BTI rating. NAD, therefore, recommended
that the advertiser modify its advertising and
discontinue its comparative reference.
SOURCE: NAD press release
In a statement to NAD, Sidney Frank stated that "[It]
is pleased that NAD has found that the Grey Goose
advertisement of BTI's 1998 taste test results is a
literally accurate and truthful ad …" The advertiser,
however, requested an appeal to NARB for NAD's
recommendation that it modify its advertising,
because it argued that BTI "… believes that there is
nothing false or misleading about the Grey Goose
advertising" and rejected the advertiser's requests to
substitute Belvedere's recent higher rating.
SOURCE: NAD press release
• NAD is the first-level which investigates the
truthfulness and accuracy of a national ad.
• NARB (National Advertising Review Board) is
the second part of the self-regulatory
process.
• When an advertiser or challenger disagrees
with NAD's findings, NAD's decision can be
appealed to the NARB for additional review.
SOURCE: NARC
• The panel's recommendations are nonbinding, however, in the spirit of selfregulation, almost all advertisers accept the
NARB Panel's findings and recommendation.
• In the extremely rare instance of an
advertiser's unwillingness to to accept the
panel's recommendations, NAD/NARB
Procedures call for a referral of the matter to
an appropriate law-enforcement agency.
SOURCE: NARC
Lee Einsidler, executive vice
president of sales and marketing for
Sidney Frank :
• "Just because [the NARB has] made a
determination, we're not bound to follow it.”
• "We're following BTI guidelines that say no
commingling, and [the NARB] is asking us to
violate the BTI guidelines."
• ”…if [Belvedere is] concerned about their new
rankings, they should go advertise that."
SOURCE: AdAge.com
• Since Sidney Frank told the NARB that
it has no intention of complying, the
board referred the case to
• the Federal Trade Commission
• the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade
Bureau (a spinoff of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms).
SOURCE: AdAge.com
• Millennium Import Co., importers of
Belvedere vodka, filed a lawsuit on Aug.
28 against Sidney Frank Importing,
which distributes Grey Goose vodka, for
false advertising, consumer fraud and
trade libel.
SOURCE: AdAge.com
Steve Gill,
Millennium Import Co. president:
• "We have been damaged by these deceptive
and misleading ads because [Sidney Frank
has] misled consumers into thinking [Grey
Goose] is the best-tasting vodka in the world
and [Belvedere is] an inferior vodka, which is
not the case."
• "We intend to prove in a court of law that
[Sidney Frank] has misled consumers ... and
garnered revenue which has been gained
based on deception."
SOURCE: AdAge.com