Advertising Law Tool Kit - Tenth Edition | 2022

12 / Venable Advertising Claim Substantiation Claudia A. Lewis calewis@Venable.com +1 202.344.4359 Objective advertising claims require prior substantiation. Claims can be express or implied and generally relate to tangible characteristics of a product or service. If an ad contains claims about a product or service that can be measured or otherwise proved true or false, marketers must ensure there is a “reasonable basis” for those claims. A good rule of thumb for what constitutes a “reasonable basis” is the amount and type of substantiation experts in the field believe are reasonable to support the claim. Special care is required for health and other claims that consumers cannot evaluate on their own, such as “reduces cholesterol levels.” Advertising that includes health claims generally must be substantiated by well-controlled, double-blind human clinical studies. Todd A. Harrison taharrison@Venable.com +1 202.344.4724