Kramer Levin Advertising Win on Behalf of Client ExxonMobil Sustained on Appeal

On behalf of ExxonMobil Corporation, Kramer Levin prevailed in an appeal before a five-member panel of the National Advertising Review Board (NARB) brought by BP Lubricants USA.  The underlying challenge before the National Advertising Division (NAD) involved advertising that compared BP’s motor oil to ExxonMobil’s Mobil 1 motor oil in a “torture test” that pushed test cars to the point of engine failure after being run at 75 miles per hour, on a seven percent grade, fully loaded at 1,600 pounds, for five straight days. BP relied on this test to claim that its product was proven to be “DRIVEN STRONGER” than Mobil 1.  NARB affirmed NAD’s recommendation that BP’s claims be discontinued.  The panel found that “BP’s advertising conveyed a message about performance under consumer relevant conditions, not simply extreme conditions,” and that “ BP’s testing did not provide a basis for the message that Castrol EDGE is ‘stronger’ than Mobil 1 under normal driving conditions.”  NARB further “agreed with the NAD that the BP test was not sufficiently reliable to support the ‘stronger’ claims made in the challenged advertisements and recommended that BP discontinue the claims.”  The Kramer Levin team included litigation partner Norman C. Simon and associate Kurt M. Denk.