POM Wonderful advertises its brand as being committed to wellness. The products they make are from pomegranates and are said to be healthy. The Pom juices are bottled in unique looking, curvaceous bottles and they claim regarding these products is that they can help reduce the risk of heart disease, combat impotence, and reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
However, at the end of September 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) levied a complaint against the makers of Pom Wonderful and the owners of this company (billionaire philanthropists Stewart and Lynda Resnick) that the available evidence (to date) does not support the aforementioned claims. Also named in the complaint is Matthew Tupper ??? the current president and chief operating officer of Pom Wonderful.
What the FTC hopes to do is prevent Pom Wonderful from continuing to make unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of their products, unless evidence can be made available to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a proper review of the data. According to the FTC, the makers of Pom Wonderful ignored data that contradicted the claims listed above and continued to purport benefits of their products. Among available studies, the FTC cites data from May of 2007 where a large study conducted over 18 months did not show a difference in plaque buildup (heart disease) after use of the same ingredients.
According to an article published in the New York Times (September 2010), the Resnicks plan on contesting the compliant. In fact, the makers of Pom Wonderful state that over $34 million has been spent research the benefits of pomegranate (and pomegranate-based) products, and that this amount of money includes 19 clinical trials as well as multiple publications in scientific, peer-reviewed journals.
The charges brought forth by the FTC will be heard by an administrative law judge in May 2011. While the FTC cannot assess fines against Pom Wonderful, the FTC is within its authority to prevent illegal marketing activities that companies may be deemed guilty of propagating.