HAMMER DOWN Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 I Read this article, thought I'll share, Royal Purple get hand slapped:eek: Article from LUBE REPORT () April 8, 2009 Truth in Advertising: BP v. Royal Purple By George Gill Royal Purple Ltd. was black and blue after BP Lubricants USA took it to task over advertising claims for its synthetic motor oil, finding a receptive audience in the advertising industry’s self-regulatory forum. The National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus recommended Porter, Texas-based Royal Purple modify or discontinue numerous advertising claims for its synthetic motor oil, following a challenge by Wayne, N.J.-based BP Lubricants. The NAD examined comparative performance and superiority claims in print, broadcast and Internet advertising. In some of the advertising, Royal Purple compared its performance to Castrol, Shell, Amsoil and other motor oil brands. NAD recommended that Royal Purple discontinue its use of consumer testimonials reporting specific performance attributes in the absence of reliable independent evidence showing performance capability. “Anecdotal evidence based solely on the experiences of individual consumers is insufficient to support product efficacy claims, including claims related to horsepower, torque, fuel economy or engine heat,” the organization stated. “While the advertiser may quote from published articles if it provides clear and conspicuous attribution to the publisher, it may not rely on such articles to support efficacy claims for which it has no reliable independent validation.” NAD recommended Royal Purple discontinue claims such as “Increases horsepower and torque by as much as 3 percent,” “Reduces Engine Wear by 80 percent,” “Superior Oxidation Stability” and “Provides Film Strength Up to 400 Percent.” “If industry-standard tests or tests with carefully documented controls were abandoned, there would be no basis whatsoever for making any meaningful claims about the relative efficacy of motor oils,” BP said in its challenge. NAD recommended that Royal Purple discontinue claims that stated, “Improves fuel economy by as much as 5 percent” and “Fuel economy improvement up to 5 percent or more” because its Environmental Protection Agency testing was inconclusive and the “Oklahoma State Study” and single cylinder Labeco CLR diesel engine testing cited in Royal Purple’s advertising was not relevant. The NAD noted the 1997 OSU Study was “outdated and nothing in the record demonstrated that the formulations of the competitors’ oils were similar to those available for sale on the market today.” BP Lubricants said it hired the independent laboratory Southwest Research Institute, in San Antonio, to analyze power output of gasoline engines with Royal Purple Oil and with BP’s Castrol oil for comparisons. “The results were provided to the challenger’s expert statistician who was not informed of the identity of the candidate oils,” NAD stated. “The challenger’s [bP’s] expert determined a 0.9 percent difference in power between the oils, which did not rise to the level of statistical significance, and is well below the 3 percent claim made by the advertiser.” SwRI did additional tests to independently determine the differences in fuel economy, emissions data and engine temperature between Royal Purple and Castrol motor oils. According to SwRI, “there was no statistically significant difference between the fuel economy, emissions data or engine temperature between the two candidate oils,” NAD said. Following its review of the non-anecdotal evidence in the record, NAD recommended that Royal Purple discontinue the claims, “Reduces emissions up to 20 percent or more” and “Reductions in emissions of 20 percent or more” because the studies on which the claims were based were outdated and not consumer-relevant. NAD also recommended the advertiser discontinue its unsupported claim that Royal purple motor oil is “API/ILSAC Certified.” Noting that API and ILSAC licenses and certifications have many categories with different meanings, the NAD recommended that the company discontinue its claim that its synthetic oils are “generally ‘API/ILSAC Certified.’” In fact, no Royal Purple products are certified to current ILSAC specifications. The American Petroleum Institute licenses its trademarked Service Symbol, or ‘donut,’ for display on qualified engine oils, and also licenses the ILSAC ‘starburst’ logo for oils that meet the auto industry’s latest energy-conserving standards. In API’s online directory of licensees for its Engine Oil Licensing and Certification Program, Royal Purple has a total of 23 passenger car and diesel engine oil products listed, all licensed to use the API donut. Five of these may additionally display the words ‘energy conserving’ within the donut logo, but none of the Royal Purple products are licensable to the current ILSAC GF-4 specification and they cannot display the starburst logo. Royal Purple also voluntarily agreed to discontinue the claims, “most advanced,” “unsurpassed performance” and “unparalleled performance,” steps the NAD said were necessary and proper to avoid confusion in the marketplace. “While Royal Purple also believes that the tests and testimonials it supplied as evidence accurately portray the benefits of using its synthetic oil in a wide variety of applications, it defers to the NAD’s position that those tests and testimonials alone are insufficient to support specific performance attribute claims in consumer advertising,” the company said in its response to NAD. “... [Royal Purple] has already made changes to its advertising in accordance with the NAD recommendations and will continue to implement NAD’s recommendations and analysis in developing Royal Purple’s future advertising.” BP Lubricants did not return phone calls from Lube Report requesting comment on NAD’s decision. Published by LNG Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright © 2009 LNG Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. George Gill, Editor. Lube Report (ISSN 1547-3392) is published by LNG Publishing Co., Inc., 6105-G Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, Virginia 22044 USA. Phone: (703) 536-0800. Fax: (703) 536-0803. Website: http://www.LNGpublishing.com. Email: info@LNGpublishing.com. For advertising information contact Gloria Steinberg Briskin at (800) 474-8654 or (703) 536-7676 or gloria@LNGpublishing.com. Powered by IMN Mileage:331487 Retired/Sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franklin Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 I guess BP had enough of unproven claims. Seems Royle Purple got smacked on mutiple claims. However Mobil oil's silence about being beat up about their Mobil 1 5W30 sorry performance tells me that its true. Surely thay have loads of $$$$ to defend themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rao Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 I thought synthetic oils were superior Rob IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR CAR YOU SHOULD NEVER DRIVE IT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 They are, superior at parting fools from their money Double Award Winning Legacy GT Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rao Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 That's thinking with your dip stick, Jimmy! Rob IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR CAR YOU SHOULD NEVER DRIVE IT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katalyst Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 They are, superior at parting fools from their money !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilT Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Not all synthetics are created equal;) neither are all fools Double Award Winning Legacy GT Wagon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rao Posted April 14, 2009 Share Posted April 14, 2009 Rob IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR CAR YOU SHOULD NEVER DRIVE IT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRX_TX Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 I think this is the dumbest thing ever. I have worked for BP and I think if BP wants a pissing match, all Royal Purple has to do is stop selling them oil to help run their plant in Texas City, TX. That's right, BP buys Royal Purple to run their plant and has for years. I guess they could hire those guys back to conduct all those rebuilds and increase the budget for more parts, increase in labor, and down time. As for this report -BP Lubricants said it hired the independent laboratory Southwest Research Institute, in San Antonio, to analyze power output of gasoline engines with Royal Purple Oil and with BP’s Castrol oil for comparisons. “The results were provided to the challenger’s expert statistician who was not informed of the identity of the candidate oils,” NAD stated. “The challenger’s [bP’s] expert determined a 0.9 percent difference in power between the oils, which did not rise to the level of statistical significance, and is well below the 3 percent claim made by the advertiser.” If they had no idea what they were testing, what oil were they using. At least when the universities tested Royal Purple against others oils, they knew what they were. Why didn't the lab go buy Castrol and Royal Purple and then do the test? Why did Castrol have to hire them? Seems bias to me. Seems like BP is taking lessons from Amsoil. Also, Royal Purple is API licensed, but not CERTIFIED, just wording. Here, go to the API website and type in Royal Purple - http://eolcs.api.org/ Then there is The NAD noted the 1997 OSU Study was “outdated and nothing in the record demonstrated that the formulations of the competitors’ oils were similar to those available for sale on the market today.” So are they stating that Royal Purple was better than they were in the past? If an independent lab, who was not hired by either BP bought the oil from a parts store and tested it, would that information be good? Castrol is mad that they can no longer run their GTX commercials for the same crap. Their pocket books are hurting and they want to pick off the little guy who doesn't have the large pockets as they do. I bet everyone in here thinks John Force runs Castrol in his Funny Car! HA-HA, he doesn't because they don't make 70w motor oil that these motors need. Maybe he should be busted too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iyalla Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Cat fight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryN Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 How funny... I used Royal Purple in my '07 STi. It ran great and even ran the engine past 4K with barely any problems or overheating. When I took the car in for an oil change, the oil was still very clean and no burnt smell either! Oh well, c'est la vis. That is why I am going to use Motul after my first oil change! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.