Advertising of Supplement Targeting Seniors Questioned

TINA.org Joins with AARP in Objecting to Move Free Class-Action Settlement

MADISON, Conn., March 12, 2015 — More than 46 million people suffer from arthritis, many of them elderly, and for years they have been encouraged to purchase glucosamine supplements to ease their joint pain and rebuild cartilage. But scientific evidence does not support these marketing claims – the products are actually no better than a placebo – and now glucosamine companies are facing numerous class-action lawsuits across the nation.

Truth in Advertising, Inc. (TINA.org) has joined with AARP in opposing one such class-action settlement pending in California federal court that would allow the makers of Move Free glucosamine to continue the deceptive marketing of the popular supplement to millions of aging Americans who are experiencing joint degeneration.

The proposed settlement only bans the makers of Move Free from using a mere handful of specific phrases in its labeling for just two years while the nationwide class is forever prohibited from bringing another deceptive marketing lawsuit against the company.

In anticipation of TINA.org’s and AARP’s objection over the fairness of the proposed settlement, the plaintiffs’ attorneys have petitioned the court to withdraw from the current agreement so that it can be revised. The makers of Move Free are pushing to finalize the settlement as is.

“A settlement that claims to correct deceptive marketing by banning just a few specific verbs from the product labels is shameful.” said Bonnie Patten, executive director of TINA.org. “And allowing the company to return to those very terms in just two years adds insult to injury.”

This is the third flawed glucosamine settlement TINA.org has objected to in recent months.

“Advertisers should not be able to get off the hook for deceptive practices that drain older people’s pocketbooks and may delay them seeking treatment that might actually work” says Julie Nepveu, senior attorney with AARP Foundation Litigation, which has also represented objectors in other glucosamine settlements.

Consumers affected by the settlement have until March 23 to object.