Product “Tags” With Disease Claims Elevate Risk

Ingredient research on a commercial website can be considered a marketing claim, which continues to be cited in warning letters. The key point that turns “research” into a marketing claim is when the ingredient is in a product sold on the site. This is when “education” crosses the line into marketing. Here is a post about seven CBD companies that were cited for this earlier in the year.

Today’s Warning Letter Wednesday is another example of this, but it also has some new learning opportunities.

Products or category “tags” help Google and customers find specific posts, but they are also considered marketing. These tags demonstrate the content’s intended marketing use and should be used carefully. I suggest against using disease “tags” on any supplement marketing, and this warning letter cites a very high-risk category tag.

From warning letter: Your website ….. also includes various “Category” tags, including “COVID-19,” that link to the blog post “How Does CBD Help to Fight Against COVID-19?.” The blog post has links to CannaAid products available for purchase.

I write more about product tags and meta tags here.

This letter also references a call to action where the blog post links to a shopping cart. Although blogs with implied disease claims are cited in warning letters, this “commercial bridge” likely elevates the risk of scrutiny.

This company would have received the warning letter without the “Covid” tags and without linking to a shopping cart, but this shows how authorities may consider these factors when deciding to issue a warning letter.

Here is a post about discussing ingredient benefits.

This joint FDA/FTC letter includes a cease and desist. Learn more about these here.

Read the full letter here.