An Amazon Review That Was Allegedly 'hijacked' From An Existing Product Is Settled By Bountiful In An FTC Case

Marketer of nutritional supplements Bountiful Co. has agreed to pay $600,000 to resolve an FTC enforcement action alleging it "hijacked" its own Amazon ratings and reviews.

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In its first such lawsuit, the FTC charged that Bountiful had improperly used an Amazon tool that lets merchants establish "variation" relationships among their own products to alter product pages.

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The products must be comparable and can only be different in "short, precise ways" like shape, color, number, or flavor.

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In order to allow customers to compare and select among related products, products with variation relationships display as alternative options on the same product detail page on Amazon.

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The FTC claims that Bountiful used "this misleading strategy by combining its new products on Amazon with different, well-established products" that had more ratings, reviews, and Amazon's Choice badges.

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According to Samuel Levine, head of the FTC's Division of Consumer Protection, "boosting your products by appropriating another product's ratings or reviews is a relatively new approach but is nonetheless plain old misleading advertising," he stated last week in announcing the settlement.

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Under the names Nature's Bounty and Sundown, Bountiful makes vitamin, mineral, and other dietary supplements. It then sells these products to Amazon, which then resells them to customers.

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The FTC claimed that Bountiful asked Amazon to put the new items in a variation connection with three of its existing products when it started selling Nature's Bounty Stress Comfort Mood Booster and Nature's Bounty Stress Comfort Peace of Mind Stress Relief Gummies in 2020.

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The formulas of the new and current products were different.

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Despite the fact that customers did not "enjoy" the Stress Comfort goods, sales "spiked the second we varied pages and they continue to climb," according to an internal Company email cited by the FTC.

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Before the FTC decides whether to make the settlement final, the public is invited to provide comments.

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Trade Algo said that Bountiful settled the enforcement action to avoid "a drawn-out and expensive litigation struggle."

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