Namyang Dairy Products Found Guilty of False Advertising for COVID-19 Prevention Claims

The court has ruled that Namyang Dairy Products is guilty of false advertising for claiming that its dairy product ‘Bulgaris‘ was effective in preventing COVID-19. The court criticized the company for making false claims at a time when the public was concerned about safety due to the coronavirus, stating that the company was guilty of a serious crime.

In April 2021, when the COVID-19 epidemic was at its peak, Namyang Dairy held an academic discussion and announced that its product ‘Bulgaris’ had a 77.8% coronavirus reduction effect. However, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency immediately refuted that it had not been verified.

Despite the lack of verification, the stock price soared more than 17% the next day, and Bulgaris was sold out in the market. However, a police investigation was initiated following a complaint to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, revealing that there was no clinical trial and that the experiment was simply conducted by soaking cells from animals infected with the coronavirus in Bulgaris products.

The experiment was conducted with one product, but when making the announcement, the product name ‘Bulgaris’, which encompasses all 48 products, was emphasized. An internal meeting five months before the event also discussed ‘renewing Bulgaris with an antiviral concept’.

The court sentenced Namyang Dairy Corporation to a fine of 50 million won and four people involved, including former CEO Lee Gwang-beom, to a fine of 10 to 20 million won each. The court pointed out that the academic debate was held for publicity despite knowing that it was only a cell-stage experiment and had no news value.

The court also reprimanded the company, stating that “the guilt of false advertising is serious when the number of confirmed cases per day exceeds 600 and all citizens are concerned about their physical safety.” The fact that Namyang Dairy Products denied the charges, attributing the fault to the media that reported it, was also cited as a reason for sentencing.

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