royal purple discredited,,,it's not what they claim.

[EviL inside]

Truth in Advertising: BP v. Royal PurpleBy 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 The NAD noted the 1997 OSU Study was “outdated and nothing in the record demonstrated that the formulations of the competitors’ oils were similar to those available for sale on the market today.”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.

[OM3GA]

Ill still be usin it!

[EviL inside]

of course people will still keep buying it, just like there will always be someone to buy the "intake tornado" and "fuel saving magnets".

wanna buy an electric supercharger?

[Adam240sx]

of course people will still keep buying it, just like there will always be someone to buy the "intake tornado" and "fuel saving magnets".

wanna buy an electric supercharger?

i had the tornado. my brother gave it to me as a gift and it did help me get alot better gas milege. no bs.

[EviL inside]

i had the tornado. my brother gave it to me as a gift and it did help me get alot better gas milege. no bs.

you DO know it's april NINTH,,,right?

[Razi]

Oil TestsThey tested all kinds of synthetic oils against shearing protection and Royal Purple did very good.

I skimmed what you posted and did not see that any tests to disprove their claims for protection.

Who cares how much power you gain from motor oil, if it protects, I'm a happy camper.

[SirSilvia]

Oil TestsThey tested all kinds of synthetic oils against shearing protection and Royal Purple did very good.

I skimmed what you posted and did not see that any tests to disprove their claims for protection.

Who cares how much power you gain from motor oil, if it protects, I'm a happy camper.

seems to be a legit test

[S14toRPS13]

Oil TestsThey tested all kinds of synthetic oils against shearing protection and Royal Purple did very good.

I skimmed what you posted and did not see that any tests to disprove their claims for protection.

Who cares how much power you gain from motor oil, if it protects, I'm a happy camper.

That's the test that got me sold on Royal Purple and I'll still be buying Royal Purple.

I remember years ago, SCC magazine did a test on Royal Purple and dyno'd it. There was 1 to 2 hp gains here and there but nothing really significant. So I never really bought the into the adding hp advertisements.

[Razi]

Yeah, I'd rather have good protection and no horsepower gain than to have less protection and a 2 hp gain.

I'll be using Royal Purple on my next oil change.

[Tack]

That's interesting, thanks for the heads up.

[OutToWinPAHC]

I guess royal purple is only good for 240's, wait I know now this belongs in the general chat.

[blacksrjdm]

All i know is that my engine runs better with it in it.

[MastaYu]

It works week for me

[CCurate]

They actually did a piece on Horsepower TV with a 99 Camaro and changed all the fluids with Royal Purple and gained some power. I'm With everyone else though. Oil is for protection of engine parts not to gain power so I'll still use it.

[Tack]

I don't trust horsepower TV or any of those "power block" shows. They are 100% in support of their sponsors because they pay the bills. If I had an inferior product all it takes is money to have one of those guys to claim it works on their show.

[TJcars2]

I'm still runnin it in my cars. Who cares if it's not what they say. Maybe the price will go down a bit too.

[pj]

ahhaha im reading this and as i am the ads by google box below the posts is for royal purple.

[TJcars2]

Haha I just noticed that.

They're trying to brainwash us.

[dan14sweeney]

royal purple does a very good job at protecting vital parts but from the use of both I prefer amsoil products for all the lubricants in my car...just my two cents

p.s. my frontier has royal purp and my 240 has amsoil there isnt much of a difference other than the dye added to rp

[Scuffed_ChukiCoupe]

Theres no reason to be sticking up for royal purp, theres nothing in the atricle that says royal purple is bad oil. Its just not as advertised.

[blacksrjdm]

NOW THATS THINKING WITH YOUR DIPSTICK.......JIMMY!

[blacksrjdm]

Hey anyone like fishsticks?

[tEknoS13]

Hey anyone like fishsticks?

Yes

Do you like putting fishsticks in your mouth?

Yes

Then you're a ghey fish......

[Didderson]

Theres no reason to be sticking up for royal purp, theres nothing in the atricle that says royal purple is bad oil. Its just not as advertised.

Great point, it still performed .9% better, but not as advertised.

I'll probably switch to mobile 1 because I feel violated haha.If there's little price difference I'll stick by royal purple.

[r34 gtr]

What about all the forum members we have had throw rods and stuff immediately following oil changes to royal purple? I know there are more than a few. Perfectly good engines grenading at low engine speeds within 50-100 miles of changing to royal purple. I wouldn't run the stuff if they paid me. Its garbage.

[dan14sweeney]

I agree thats why its not in my 240 my frontier with the vg30 however loves the stuff...its weirdoverall i dont recommend it four our cars im probably switching my truck soon anyways

[blacksrjdm]

Yes

Do you like putting fishsticks in your mouth?

Yes

Then you're a ghey fish......

[rico05]

I would be one of those that blew a rod within 3 days of changing to Royal Purple. I have run Mobil1 and Castrol GTX in a pinch for over 4 years in my BPU CA18DET. One change to RP and my car was on a trailer and I had a new motor on a pallet to swap in. The stuff is garbage.

I guess I can thank Royal Purple for the OS Giken twin plate that came with my new motor set however...

[jessetang]

The only way engine oil produce more power is because it is thinner (less friction, simple physics. I do not know anything about engine oil and how it gain/lose horsepower so I am only applying simple physics). I remember I read on the Royal Purple site about a S14 SR, switching from 20W 50 to 10W 40 and gain like 14whp. There is just too much factors that were not mention to support the statement.

[offroadbob]

Yea I'm going to stick with Redline and or amsoil. never had any problems with em, and they seem to work well...