Dive Brief:

• JPMorgan Chase was taken to task by the national advertising arm of the non-profit organization BBB National Programs, which said earlier this month that the bank engaged in “puffery” when it advertised that the Chase Sapphire Reserve premium card was the “most rewarding” in the market.
• The card advertising from JPMorgan Chase, the largest U.S. bank, was challenged by rival Capital One Financial before the BBB National Programs’ National Advertising Division. A spokesperson for the BBB National Programs declined to comment on when the challenge was filed.
• The National Advertising Division “found that Chase’s ‘most rewarding’ claims, absent additional context tying them to specific product features or attributes, are nonactionable puffery,” the organization said in a Dec. 3 release. “NAD also determined that ‘most rewarding’ card does not convey the message that a consumer will earn the most reward points with that card.”

Dive Insight:

The National Advertising Division, also known as NAD, was created by the advertising industry in 1971 in response to concerns about the need for oversight of truth and accuracy in advertising. While BBB National Programs has a shared history with the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, they split into two separate non-profit entities in 2019. 

NAD determined that JPMorgan Chase has a basis for making its claims about the Sapphire premium cards it issues to consumers and businesses, but urged the bank to provide more information in its advertising about how it reaches that conclusion.

“NAD found that Chase’s methodology for totaling individual credits and privileges, combined with projected points or rewards, provided a reasonable basis for the ‘most rewarding’ claims, but determined that Chase should disclose to consumers its basis for those claims, given the number of assumptions required in Chase’s analysis,” the press release on the decision said.

Competition between banks in the premium card market was stoked this year by JPMorgan Chase refreshing its Sapphire card offering to offer more benefits and American Express also promising increased value. Such premium cards generally charge higher annual fees and target wealthy consumers.

In any case, NAD has tackled corporate battles over card advertisements for years.

With respect to another Capital One challenge to JPMorgan Chase’s claim that there is no competition to its card providing $2,500 in annual value, NAD said the advertising was supported by disclosures, but determined it “overstated” the superiority and recommended that part of the advertising be discontinued.

During the course of assessing the challenge, JPMorgan Chase informed NAD that it had discontinued a “best offer ever” claim with respect to marketing for the cards, NAD said.

In response to NAD’s decision, a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson took the opportunity to tout the cards, providing this statement: “We’re pleased with NAD’s decision and are proud to offer the most rewarding cards with Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve for Business,” saying the card issuer would offer more benefits next year, including related to hotel stays. 

Spokespeople for Capital One didn’t respond to a request for comment.