Status and Updates
October 16, 2020: The National Advertising Division (NAD), after investigating claims brought to its attention by S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., determines that doTerra did not provide a reasonable basis for claims that its essential oils provide certain health benefits, including specific benefits for mood, emotions, and the mind. NAD also determines that the evidence in the record was not a good fit for the advertiser’s “Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade” claim. NAD recommends that doTerra discontinue the marketing claims at issue.
April 24, 2020: The FTC sends doTerra a warning letter regarding distributors’ use of social media posts that claim doTerra products can treat or prevent COVID-19 and misrepresent that consumers who become doTerra distributors are likely to earn substantial income.
April 7, 2020: The DSSRC issues a decision stating that doTerra distributors had been making unsubstantiated health claims, as well as deceptive income claims, to sell products and promote the doTerra business opportunity. The DSSRC recommends that the company cease using such claims, and states that it will “continue to monitor the messages disseminated by the Company salesforce on social media and will immediately initiate a compliance inquiry should it identify an ongoing proliferation of egregious, unsupported product or income claims disseminated by dōTERRA and/or its salesforce.”
October 16, 2019: TINA.org files a complaint with the DSSRC urging it to investigate doTerra’s unsubstantiated health claims and take action.
