National Safety Associates

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For other companies with similar initials, see NSA (disambiguation)

National Safety Associates (NSA) is a privately-owned marketing company based in Collierville, Tennessee, best known for selling a line of water and air filters, and then the nutritional supplement Juice Plus, via multi-level marketing.

[edit] History

The company was founded in 1970 by Jay Martin, a schoolteacher-turned-entrepreneur, who continues as CEO as of 2007.[1] NSA initially sold home fire-protection equipment via door-to-door salespeople. In the late 1970s, they expanded into water filtration products. In 1986, they began using multilevel marketing, then expanding their product line to air filters and educational games for pre-schoolers. In 1993, they began selling the nutritional supplement Juice Plus, manufactured by Natural Alternatives International in San Marcos, California.

NSA had some legal troubles in 1993, as the Attorney General's office followed up on complaints that the company was deceptively requiring new distributors to make large upfront purchases of air and water filters. Each of the 32,000 distributors in Florida purchased an average of $7,000 worth of water filters, and many of these distributors were unable to sell all of them. The company's business in the U.S. decreased that year, requiring the layoff of dozens of employees.[2]

Former professional athlete O. J. Simpson signed a multi-year six-figure contract with NSA in January 1994 and became an official celebrity endorser of Juice Plus. Simpson, who was tried and later acquitted for the June 12, 1994 murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, was videotaped in March 2004 telling 4,000 Juice Plus distributors at a sales meeting that the product had cured his arthritis, improved his golf game, and freed him from using anti-arthritic drugs.[3][4][5][6] However, during his criminal trial in 1995 and civil trial in 1997 (and in his 2007 book If I Did It)[7] Simpson claimed that he was too incapacitated by arthritis to have committed the murders and that he had continued to take a variety of potent anti-inflammatory drugs, including sulfasalazine and ibuprofen.[8][9][10][11][6] After controversy surrounding Simpson erupted, NSA cancelled his endorsement contract and stopped using the Simpson videotape to promote Juice Plus.[12][13][13]

The company has expanded from the United States, and according to NSA, was selling products in 33 countries as of the year 2000.[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Company history page. nsavirtualfranchise.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-29.
  2. ^ Laurel Campbell. "Corporate - NSA returns to marketing focus, trims Memphis staff", The Commercial Appeal, August 31, 1993. 
  3. ^ Friedman, Roger. "If O.J. Simpson did it, this is how", Fox News, November 21, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-09-15. 
  4. ^ Deutsch, Linda. "Simpson exercise video shown in murder trial. Defendant jokes about punching wives", Fort Worth Star-Telegram, July 19, 1995. 
  5. ^ "Simpson said capsules killed his arthritis pain", San Jose Mercury News, February 17, 1995, pp. 15A. Retrieved on 2007-09-15. 
  6. ^ a b Barrett, Stephen. Juice Plus: A Critical Look. MLM Watch. Retrieved on 2006-10-15.
  7. ^ Morrison, Patt. "Book review: After 'yuck,' the farce of O.J. Simpson's book -- 'If I Did It' reads like a self-absorbed counseling session", LA Times, September 14, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-15. 
  8. ^ Shearer, Harry. "O.J. by the sea", Slate, October 29, 1996. Retrieved on 2007-09-15. 
  9. ^ Friedman, Roger. "O.J. defense doctor: 'some guilty people are set free'", Fox News, June 03, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-09-15. 
  10. ^ "Partial transcript of Simpson civil trial (Regina D. Chavez official reporter)", CNN, October 24, 1995. Retrieved on 2007-09-15. 
  11. ^ "Simpson civil trial transcript (Regina D. Chavez official reporter)", CNN, January 6, 1997. Retrieved on 2007-09-15. 
  12. ^ Juice Plus. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Retrieved on 2006-10-15.
  13. ^ a b Juice Plus—and minus (pdf). University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter. Retrieved on 2006-10-15.
  14. ^ "Business notes", Jefferson City News-Tribune, November 26, 2000. 

[edit] External links