NAD Blasts Excedrin's Ad Claims

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NEW YORK The marketing industry’s self-governing body has decided that Extra-Strength Excedrin’s claim about headache relief within 15 minutes has no merit and is asking the brand to “modify or discontinue” the assertion.

Today’s ruling by the National Advertising Division, a unit of the Better Business Bureau, was prompted by a complaint from Wyeth, a rival of Excedrin’s parent company Novartis.

The NAD looked closely at Novartis’ study backing up the claim and found that “while some consumers may feel some relief in 15 minutes, most consumers will not experience perceptible relief in that time period.”  

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