NAB reports (Jan-Dec 1939)

Block Drug Company, Inc. — Alleging dissemination of false advertisements concerning the therapeutic value of a medicinal or pharmaceutical preparation designated as Allenru, a complaint has been issued against two corporations located in Jersey City, N. J. The respondent companies are Alle-Rhume Remedy Company, Inc., manufacturer of the product, and Block Drug Company, Inc., the exclusive distributor. Block Drug Company, Inc., it is alleged, owns and controls a considerable portion of the common stock of Alle-Rhume Remedy Company, Inc., and the affairs of both companies are controlled and directed by the same officers. The complaint charges that the respondent companies falsely advertise that Allenru is guaranteed to remove the cause of sciatica, neuritis and lumbago; that its use will cause uric acid poisons to be eliminated in 24 hours and that pain, agony and inflammation will leave the body within 48 hours; that most of the aches, pains and lameness of rheumatism, sciatica, neuritis and rheumatic gout are caused and aggravated by excess uric acid and other circulating poisons, and that use of the preparation will swiftly stop the distress and agony caused by the conditions named when they are due to an excess of uric acid or other circu¬ lating poisons. According to the complaint, Allenru is not a competent and an effective remedy for, nor will it cure or be of substantial therapeutic value in the treatment of, rheumatism, sciatica, neuritis, or any other ailment, disease or condition, and it will not drive out the pain and agony caused by such ailments within 48 hours or in any other period of time. The complaint also alleges that excess uric acid and other circulating poisons do not cause, nor do they aggravate, most of the aches, pains and lameness resulting from rheumatism, sciatica, neuritis, and rheumatic gout. The respondent companies’ representation that Allenru is a safe, sensible, scientific formula free from harmful or pain deadening drugs is untrue, the complaint charges. (3678) M. L. Cleiii & Company — Misrepresentation in the sale of cough and cold medicines is alleged in a complaint issued against M. L. Clein & Co., 219 Norris Bldg., Atlanta, and Max L. and Sadie B. Clein, the company’s president and vice president. Mentho-Mulsion, one of the respondents’ products allegedly was advertised in newspapers, magazines and on the radio as being safe and as constituting a remedy or cure for every cough irres¬ pective of the cause and as being capable of stopping cough spasms and relieving every cough regardless of its cause. (3674) Gair Manufacturing Company — Frank E. Gairing, trading as Gair Manufacturing Company, 1446 Summerdale Avenue, Chicago, in the sale of wrist watches, distributes push cards bearing girls names, each of which conceals a number indicating the amount, ranging from l4 to 294, which the purchaser of a punch is to pay. The purchaser who selects a name corresponding to that beneath a master seal on the board receives a wrist watch, and the person who operates the card for the respondent receives a wrist watch or a cash award when all punches have been sold. Literature and printed matter used by the respondent in the sale of his products features his trade name, Gair Manufacturing Company, by means of which he represents and implies that he is the manufacturer of the products sold by him, when such is not a fact. (3672) Greening Nursery Company — Charging violation of the Fed¬ eral Trade Commission Act in the sale of fruit trees and other nursery products, a complaint has been issued against Greening Nursery Company, Monroe, Mich. In newspaper, periodical and circular advertising, the respondent company is alleged to represent directly and by implication that it is the world’s largest grower of fruit trees; that its salesmen earn from $110 part time to $882 full time each month, and that the sale of its products is a non-competitive field which its agents and salesmen will have all to themselves, when such are not the facts. The respondent company also is alleged to advertise that it has been propagating fruit trees by bud selection exclusively for 26 years and that its bud selection discovery is unduplicated in the nursery field, giving to fruit known performance characteristics which eliminate any chance or gamble on the part of growers, when such are not the facts. (3673) Reid Packing Company — R. P. Reid, trading as Reid Packing Company, 320 South (College Street, Charlotte, N. C., sells assort¬ ments which consist of salted peanuts packed in small, individual, sealed cartons which retail for S cents each. Sealed within a small number of the cartons are amounts of money in the sums of S cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, or $1, but the ultimate purchaser cannot ascer¬ tain which cartons contain such sums until a selection has been made and the carton broken open. Under such a sales plan, a purchaser who obtains one of the sums of money does so wholly by lot or chance. (3677) D. A. Schulte, Inc., 384 Broadway, New York, supplies dealers with assortments consisting of boxes of candy and other articles of merchandise, together with a punch board bearing concealed numbers. Chances are sold for S cents and 10 cents each and pur¬ chasers obtaining certain specified numbers receive a box of candy or other item of merchandise. The punches on the board are arranged in 4 sections and the purchaser of the last punch in each of the sections, except the last, receives a box of candy. The pur¬ chaser of the last punch on the board is awarded an article of merchandise. The purchaser who does not qualify by punching one of the numbers calling for a prize receives nothing for his money other than the privilege of punching a number from the board. (3676) Swamp and Dixie Laboratories, Inc., 301-311 Rogers Ave., Fort Smith, Ark., is charged in a complaint with dissemination of false advertisements of medicinal products in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act. Swamp Chill and Fever Tonic, one of the respondent’s products sold to retail druggists, is alleged to have been advertised as a doctor’s prescription and as a safe, certain and permanent cure for malaria and every kind of fever and ague, and as being capable of breaking up malaria in three days, when, according to the com¬ plaint, such are not the facts. (3680) Wonder Wood-Tex Company — Alleging misrepresentation in the sale of wood pulp articles such as copies of statuary, a com¬ plaint has been issued against W. M. Jacobson, 308 East Slst St., Chicago, trading as Wonder Wood-Tex Company. The respondent is alleged to have represented that articles to be shipped to retailers and gift shop operators would be similar to samples displayed, when in fact the products shipped were in¬ ferior to samples, and that resale prices at which prospective pur¬ chasers could sell the articles would be SO to 100 per cent more than the prices at which the respondent offered them, when in fact such resale prices were required to be approximately the same as the prices the dealers paid the respondent for the articles. (3675) Zendejas Products Corp. — Alleging misrepresentation in the sale of a medicine advertised in Spanish over the radio and in news¬ papers and periodicals, a complaint has been issued against Zendejas Products Corporation, 200 West Slst St., Los Angeles, and against J. Silva, secretary and manager of the corporation, who also trades as Zendejas Products Company. Zendejas Medicine, it is alleged, is represented as containing well-known curative qualities of many plants, barks and roots, and as helping to purify the blood, regulate its circulation and prevent blood clots. This medicine, it is also alleged, is advertised as a cure or remedy for ailments for which an iodized medicine could be prescribed, and as being of value in treating rheumatism, arthritis, and skin diseases. The complaint alleges, however, that the respondents’ repre¬ sentations are exaggerated and misleading, and that use of their false advertisements is likely to induce the purchase of medicinal preparations containing drugs. It is alleged that Zendejas Medi¬ cine contains drugs the indiscriminate sale of which is dangerous. (3679) CEASE AND DESIST ORDERS The Commission has issued the following cease and desist orders: MeCurrach Organization, Inc., Brooklyn, has been ordered to cease and desist from representing in advertisements or an labels 3192