Retail

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8 Out of 10 Dogs Prefer…

When four out of five dentists recommend a certain toothpaste, you have to take the claim seriously. But how do you evaluate a claim like that for Nutro Natural Choice dog food which advertises “8 out of 10 dogs prefer Natural Choice Lamb & Rice Formula*”?

naturalchoice

*MOUSE PRINT: The asterisk refers to a fine print footnote that says, “Based on paired preference tests performed 10/2008.”

When Mouse Print* asked the company in an email to explain exactly how the test was done (Who interviewed the dogs or did they fill out a written questionnaire? Did you have a translator for foreign breeds? <grin>) the company declined to specify the methodology but rather invited a call to customer service. Upon doing so, the representative spoke only in generalities off the top of her head without real knowledge of the protocol.  And, being transferred to a supervisor only resulted in being deposited into voicemail.

Assuming the test was conducted in a legitimate manner, their own data do not support the claim they made that 8 out 10 dogs prefer their Nutro. When tested against Science Diet, only 67.3% preferred Nutro, not 80% or more. Likewise  only 73.3% preferred it over Natural Balance brand. In no example given in the ad did eight out of ten dogs tested prefer Nutro.

Certainly, Nutro did well in the tests, just not as well as they advertise. Hey, Nutro, why even make a claim that your own data contradict?

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Cheerios Helps Lower Cholesterol 4%; No, Make that 10%; Do I Hear 20%?

While we have come to accept that products containing oats may help to lower cholesterol, the claims can be very confusing.

Take Cheerios, for example. On the left is a box purchased a couple of months ago, and on the right is a box purchased last week.

cheerios4    cheerios10

The old one claims that Cheerios can help lower your cholesterol four percent in six weeks, while the new one says by 10% in just one month. It further goes on to claim on the front panel that eating three servings of Cheerios a day “may reduce the risk of heart disease.”  The products themselves are unchanged. So what’s going on here?

*MOUSE PRINT:

Old box: “A [1998] clinical study showed that eating two 1-1/2 cup servings daily of Cheerios cereal reduced bad cholesterol when eaten as part of diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.”

New box: “A new [2009] study proves that Cheerios cereal plus a reduced calorie diet that is low in fat can help lower bad cholesterol about 10% in one month. … Eat two 1-1/2 cup servings [daily] … and cut 500 calories from your diet.”

So basically, Cheerios found a new study that lets them tout a significantly enhanced cholesterol reduction claim. Well, “found” is too strong a word. How about paid for and co-authored an as yet unpublished study? (See abstract of the study, which was published, in a somewhat unconventional journal.)

*MOUSE PRINT:

cheeriosabstract

This is not to say that every study paid for by a corporation is suspect, but it seems a bit unusual that the company also co-authored the study.

General Mills says that 204 overweight/obese adults with high LDL (bad) cholesterol were tested. While General Mills touts Cheerios helps lower  (bad) cholesterol 10% on its box and website, the abstract of the study seems to say it was actually lowered only 8.7%.

All of this has not made the FDA happy, so they sent the company a warning letter in May. The letter asserts that the  health claims the company is making for Cheerios puts it in the category of a drug, and they have not registered Cheerios as a drug. Interestingly, the letter only refers to the original 4% claim, and not the new 10% one.

Time will tell how this cereal drama plays out, but odds are all their cholesterol lowering claims won’t disappear completely and you still won’t need a prescription to buy Cheerios.

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Home Depot’s Free Propane Exchange — Some Got Burned

hdfreepropaneJust before Memorial Day last week, members of Home Depot’s Garden Club received an email with links to various garden coupons.

The third coupon, for a free tank of propane (when you bring in an empty one presumably), was particularly timely for many families.

Upon clicking the link to print the coupon, a heretofore undisclosed catch is revealed:

*MOUSE PRINT:

hdfreepropcoupon

Oh, you have to buy a $200 grill to get the free propane. Funny how that tiny detail was omitted from their email promotion of the offer. Often, the worst mouse print is the mouse print that is missing.