Tahitian Noni
Encyclopedia
Multi-level marketing
Multi-level marketing is a marketing strategy in which the sales force is compensated not only for sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they recruit, creating a downline of distributors and a hierarchy of multiple levels of compensation...
company that markets products made from the noni
Noni
Morinda citrifolia, commonly known as great morinda, Indian mulberry, nunaakai , dog dumpling , mengkudu , Kumudu , pace , beach mulberry, cheese fruit or noni is a tree in the coffee family, Rubiaceae...
plant. Founded in 1996 and based in Provo, Utah
Provo, Utah
Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...
, TNI employs approximately 1,500 employees worldwide. They claim total yearly sales in the range of $500 million yet do not publish any of the earnings publicly. TNI has manufacturing factories in Tahiti
Tahiti
Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, China, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and the United States (American Fork, Utah
American Fork, Utah
American Fork is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, at the foot of Mount Timpanogos in the Wasatch Range, north of Utah Lake. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 26,263 at the 2010 census, nearly a 20% growth since the 2000 census...
).
Products
TNI's main product is Tahitian Noni JuiceNoni juice
Noni juice is derived from the fruit of the Morinda citrifolia tree indigenous to Southeast Asia and Australasia.-History:Sold in capsule form, pulp powder was the first M. citrifolia product brought to the commercial market in Hawaii by Herbert Moniz of Herb's Herbs in 1992 after patenting a...
, which retails for $38.00 U.S. per 1-L glass bottle or $30.00 U.S. per 750-ml aluminum bottle. The company also markets the HIRO line of beverages (e.g. Thermo, Energy, Mobility, and Vitality), which retail for $40.38 U.S. for a 24-pack of 250-mL cans, as well as various beauty
Beauty
Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture...
and personal care
Personal care
Personal care or toiletries is the industry which manufactures consumer products used for beautification and in personal hygiene.-Subsectors:Subsectors of personal care include cosmetics and feminine hygiene....
products, teas (Tahiteas), food products, and dietary supplements.
In February 2010, Tahitian Noni International launched a new product line called Tahitian Noni Bioactives and also renamed its flagship product from Tahitian Noni Juice to Tahitian Noni Original Bioactive Beverage. They claim that Tahitian Noni Bioactives contain iridoids. Other products released at that time include Tahitian Noni Pure Bioactive Beverage, Tahitian Noni Extra Bioactive Beverage and Tahitian Noni Family Bioactive Beverage with Grape and Mango Passionfruit flavors. While they still offer their flagship product in a 1-L glass bottle, they now sell Tahitian Noni Bioactives in 750-ml aluminum bottles and a 4-L bag-in-a-box which they refer to as a "Quad." The company also redesigned its website and logo.
Attorneys General (AZ, CA, NJ, TX) vs. Morinda Holdings, Inc.
On August 26, 1998, the Attorneys General of Arizona, California, New Jersey, and Texas announced a multi-state settlement with Morinda, Inc., the charges stating that Morinda had made "unsubstantiated claims in consumer testimonials and other promotional material that its Tahitian Noni juice could treat, cure or prevent numerous diseases, including diabetes, clinical depressionClinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
, hemorrhoids and arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
." Such claims rendered the beverage an unapproved new drug under state and federal food and drug laws and should not have been sold until it received approval. Under the terms of the agreement, Morinda agreed to:
- No longer make drug claims, or claims that the product can cure, treat, or prevent any disease until "Tahitian Noni" is approved and cleared for those uses by the U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationFood and Drug AdministrationThe Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
. - Not make any other claims, whether health claims or others, regarding the benefits of Tahitian Noni unless such claims are true and the company can substantiate the claim by reliable scientific evidence.
- Not use testimonials which imply that the advertised claimed results are the typical or ordinary experience of consumers in actual conditions of use, unless Morinda possesses and relies upon adequate substantiation that the results are typical or ordinary.
In addition, Morinda agreed to refund to any consumer who requests a refund in writing, the full purchase price paid for the product. The agreement also called for Morinda to pay $100,000 for investigative costs.
Tahitian Noni & XanGo settlement
Tahitian Noni sued XanGoXanGo
XANGO, LLC, founded in 2002, is a privately owned international network marketing company based in Lehi, Utah. The company markets and distributes XANGO Juice, a blended juice product consisting of mangosteen and other juices, and skin care, personal care, energy supplement and nutritional...
and several of its top executives in February 2003 in 4th District Court in Provo, Utah
Provo, Utah
Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...
, alleging that executives stole Tahitian Noni's concept for a mangosteen
Mangosteen
The purple mangosteen , colloquially known simply as mangosteen, is a tropical evergreen tree believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The tree grows from 7 to 25 m tall...
-based supplement while they were employed by TNI's parent-company, to which XanGo counter-sued. In a joint statement, Tahitian Noni and XanGo did not disclose particulars regarding the settlement, only stating that they have "agreed to resolve their disputes and the litigation between them and their founders."
Possible contamination in Spain
Residents of Spain were alerted in February 2007 to avoid consuming certain improperly labeled bottles of Tahitian Noni Juice while the health department there awaited toxicology reports for a man who died after drinking the juice. According to reports in Spain, a 40-year-old man from Ogijares drank some noni juice for breakfast and began to experience strange sensations in his mouth and blurred vision. He died shortly thereafter, and another family member, who also drank some juice, reported similar symptoms. Reports stated that there were large amounts of cocaine found in the bottles and the body of the deceased man.The bottles recovered from the deceased man's home were submitted to the Spanish Institute of Toxicology, where it was confirmed the bottles were contaminated with cocaine. The bottles in question bore labels from Mexico, and the lot number and expiration dates were illegible. Spanish authorities urged consumers to check the labels on their bottles of juice and report any irregularities. Consumers were also asked not to purchase bottles of juice outside the company’s normal distribution channels.