NAD Finds Clif Bar Slogan “Unsubstantiated” in Advertising Challenge

Clif Bar & Company will cease using the slogan “The Ultimate Energy Bar” in conjunction with “an optimal blend of protein, fat and carbs” in its marketing campaigns after the National Advertising Division (NAD) of BBB National Programs found the slogan constitutes an unsubstantiated claim about the superiority of Clif’s snack bars.

In its final decision, which was issued late last month and announced publicly this week, NAD determined that the slogan was “out of the realm of puffery” as the challenged ads did not contain information on competing energy bars; provide specific details about the blend of protein, fat and carbs in the energy bars; or include an explanation for why the bars’ nutrition blend was “optimal.”

However, NAD ruled that the taglines may be used individually and do not constitute objective statements on their own.

The combined slogan was featured in a 30 second digital commercial released last year as part of the bar brand’s “Let’s Move the World” campaign. The ads – which were run on Hulu, Roku and YouTube – included celebrity athletes such as Venus Williams and Meghan Rapinoe, and also showed people running, skateboarding and working out. A voiceover states “Let’s keep moving with the ultimate energy bar purposefully crafted with an optimal blend of protein, fat and carbs to keep you moving” while the slogan “The Ultimate Energy Bar” appears as on-screen text.

The campaign was announced last May and a version of the ad posted by BusinessWire to YouTube on June 6 is still viewable as of today.

In its advertisers statement to NAD, which Clif also provided as a statement to NOSH, the company said it will comply with the recommendation and was “pleased” that the governing body declined to rule against the individual parts of the tagline, but added that it “disagrees with NAD’s determination that juxtaposing these phrases to one another takes each ‘out of the realm of ‘puffery’.”

The claim was initially challenged by competing bar producer Kind LLC, parent company of KIND Snacks. The challenge reflects a reignition of a long standing feud between the two companies over marketing claims dating back to at least 2019.

That February, Clif ran a full-page ad in the New York Times challenging KIND to use organic ingredients in its nutrition bars, to which KIND responded with a Twitter post calling out the sugar content in Clif Bars. A month later, in March 2019, KIND filed a Citizen Petition urging the FDA to address “misleading nutrient content claims,” although KIND Founder Daniel Lubetzky told Inc. that the petition was unrelated to its feud with Clif. Shortly thereafter, KIND launched an online database of snacks, highlighting their sweetener content, with Clif Bar featured prominently among higher sugar products.

According to the NAD decision, KIND “argued that the online commercial falsely communicates to consumers that CLIF energy bars are superior to all other energy bars, have better nutrition for all activities shown in the online commercial and allow consumers to perform the depicted activities better than other energy bars.”

In support of its challenge, KIND submitted letters from the United States Patent and Trademark Office refusing Clif’s trademark application for “The Ultimate Energy Bar” and a response letter from Clif, as well as printouts from Clif’s website on its product offerings. In its defense, Clif submitted other examples of advertisers using “ultimate” in their slogans and a declaration from registered dietician Christopher Mohr arguing in favor of the brand’s nutritional blend.

KIND did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NOSH.