EVALUATING THE ACCURACY OF MARKETING AND PACKAGING CLAIMS OF HERBAL SUPPLEMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Herbal supplements are popularly advertised in various platforms to reach its target consumers. The research looked into the key information found in the advertisements and the packaging, spot the differences, and classified advertisements under exaggeration, misinterpretation, or unclassified. The study focused on 28 herbal supplements and looked into their advertisements and packaging. The advertisements were sourced from local radio network and from a collection made available in YouTube. Results showed that the information given on advertisements are not the same as what is in the packaging. Majority of the advertisements mentions indications (82%) but only 7.1% mentions such on their packaging material. Out of the 28 advertisements, only 1 (3.6%) included information on dosage while 26 out of 28 (92.9%) of the products have dosage information on their packaging. Only 64.3% of advertisements and 82.1% of packaging material provide caution. A good number of advertisements, 21 out of 28 (75%) had misinterpretations and 39.3% had exaggerations. There were 4 advertisements which were unclassified because the information available did fall as either misinterpretation or exaggeration. There are still differences in information provided in advertisements from those in packaging. Future efforts may be geared towards reevaluating the existing guidelines governing food supplements so that the consumers will be better informed