Truth in Advertising: BP vs Royal Purple

[archaeology_student]

Thought that this might be of interest to some ;)

"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."

[rayhyland]

yep, it was good to see this come about this spring. RP has been using questionable claims for a long time, and all of us in the industry knew that, but no one could get them to voluntarily stop. It took BP taking them to court to make them stop.

I can give you lots of detail, but not on a public forum.

Ray

[archaeology_student]

Well I was one of the gullible consumers that fell for the hype and marketing. Before I went through my lubricant technical training courses to truly understand lubes I didn't know any better.

Since hearing this I have had the fluid drained and replaced with a reputable brand.

[N Hamelin]

What's actually wrong with Royal Purple? Is it just their advertising, or is the product flawed?

[archaeology_student]

In the article there's an interesting section that states:

"The NAD noted the 1997 OSU Study was “outdated and nothing in the record demonstrated that the formulations of the competitors’ oils were similar to those available for sale on the market today.”

Followed by these paragraphs:

"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."

Regarding API certification, "the API Certification Mark "Starburst" is designed to identify engine oils recommended for a specific application (such as gasoline service). An oil may be licensed to display the Starburst only if the oil satisfies the most current requirements of the International Lubricant Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC) minimum performance standard for this application (currently GF-4 for passenger cars). Many automobile manufacturers recommend oils that carry the API Certification Mark."

http://www.api.org/certifications/images/EOLCS.jpg

Anyways, I was not sure if anyone had had a chance to read this article, as I just became aware of it 3 weeks ago. I thought that I would share the information with everyone.

:occasion5:

[rayhyland]

You should use an oil appropriate to the type of driving you do.

Racing oils like RP are designed to protect in extreme heat. Therefore they add extra Zinc.

But higher Zinc content will destroy the esters that act as an antioxidant. So if you always reach a very high temp every time you start your engine, they are fine. But if you run down to the store and shut down before it is hot, you will get moisture in the block and without the esters you will get oxidation (rust) on internal components.

Making a good oil is an art. You want to start with a good fully PAO basestock if you are running synthetic, and then the additive pack must balance all the factors above.

I'd say choose between Syntec, Mobil One, or Amsoil. Those are the best products out there for our uses.

Ray

[archaeology_student]

Although the base oils these days actually meet the requirements/specs that synthetics are called for because refining has also come a long way.

A synthetic blend can also give you the best of both worlds and you are correct with additives. It boils down to the additives that each manufacturer goes with in their base stocks.

It also boils down to the marketing programs that make people believe one oil is super duper and 10x better than the competitors.

This was meant to enlighten people and there will always be those that say brand 'X' oil is better than brand 'Y' oil without any real data or they may have skewed data that is unreliable.

Why is Mobil 1 so popular these days? Well they throw a TONNE of money at marketing, especially to be the "official" NASCAR lubricant and therefore they must be the best... or are they? Who was the previous official NASCAR lubricant for 51 years since the inception of NASCAR?

Just some food for thought ;)

:occasion5:

[rayhyland]

Actually Mobil 1 probably spends the least of all the major brands, but they invented the category so they have been the leader for a long time.