A recent Colgate-Palmolive ad campaign that implied Simply White Whitening Gel takes much less time to use than Procter & Gamble's Crest Whitestrips is not supported by the product's instructions, the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus concludes following an inquiry.

"It was reasonable for consumers to take away the message from the commercial that the product usage time is substantially less for Simply White than for Crest Whitestrips, and the advertiser cannot support the implied claim as it is depicted," NAD says.

In response to the agency's decision, Colgate defended its claims, but agreed to take the group's recommendations "into account" in future advertising.

The ads were brought to NAD's attention by P&G, which argued that Colgate failed to communicate Simply White's required two-week wear-time and confused the time needed to apply Simply White ("minutes or so") with the time needed to realize any benefit.

Colgate informed NAD it had discontinued a 30-second spot featuring a comparative dramatization of the two products prior to the inquiry. However, the ad monitoring group noted, Colgate "did not commit to withdrawing its comparison of the usage and application regimen of the two products."

One of the challenged ads features two women applying the different products while an announcer states, "Got 14 hours to use those whitening strips? You'll need to wear them an hour a day for two weeks, instead of the minutes or so a day it takes to apply new Colgate Simply White and go."

In another ad, a woman states, "I've tried whitening strips. Simply White is definitely easier. You just apply it and go." Colgate maintained the main message conveyed by both ads is the product is significantly easier to use than Whitestrips.

However, NAD asserts that although the ad mentioned the two-week time period it takes for the P&G product to be effective, it does not clearly communicate that fact for the Colgate whitener. The group notes labeling for both Simply White and Whitestrips directs consumers to use the products twice a day for 14 days.

Colgate had argued the idea was conveyed by a superimposed message in the comparative dramatization. The message stated "Dramatization of two weeks of usage" during a four-sequence close up showing increasingly whiter teeth. In addition, one of the commercials states Simply White had been used for two weeks, according to Colgate.

However, NAD concludes that such statements are not adequate in communicating that the product must also be used for two weeks to achieve maximum performance benefits.

NAD also contends the Colgate ads utilize an "apples-to-oranges" approach when describing the two products by comparing the full usage time of Whitestrips over the full 14 day period with the time it takes to apply Simply White a single time.

While advertisers are allowed to compare two different aspects of a product, the agency states an advertiser that does so "has the burden of clearly and conspicuously putting consumers on notice that two different steps of the regimen are being compared."

P&G also argued that Colgate unfairly depicted Simply White as having more modest restrictions during wear. Colgate said with its product, a consumer "need only spend minutes a day for 14 days with no annoying object in the mouth and no need to do or refrain from doing anything."

NAD disagrees, stating product application is similar in that both items can be applied in just "minutes or so a day," and therefore, Whitestrips consumers also could "just apply and go."

The group further states, "in order to communicate a more accurate message, product usage...should be compared pursuant to the applicable instructions that will allow consumers to realize the maximum results of the product."

NAD concurs with Colgate that the firm provided adequate data to support the claim that Simply White has been "clinically proven to whiten in 14 days," a message P&G also had disputed.

In an earlier case brought to NAD's attention by Colgate, the agency found that P&G TV ads humorously comparing Whitestrips to Simply White falsely denigrated the Colgate product but adequately supported a superior whitening claim (¹ Also see "Crest Whitestrips Ad Comparison To Simply White Gets Mixed NAD Review" - HBW Insight, 26 May, 2003., p. 3).

Colgate Simply White Usage Comparison To Whitestrips Challenged By P&G

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