Dive Brief:

• Supplements retailer GNC Holdings has been blocked by the NFL and the NFL Players Association from running an ad it had slated for this weekend's Super Bowl, the company confirmed to Retail Dive Wednesday.

• The supplements retailer is listed under “prohibited companies” and a memo from the NFL and the NFL Players Association says that players must not endorse GNC, which they say is “associated with the production, manufacture or distribution of NFL banned substances.” 

• GNC EVP, Chief Marketing & E-commerce Officer Jeff Hennion told USA Today that some of the retailer’s supplements do contain dehydroepiandrosterone (known as DHEA) and synephrine, which are banned by the NFL.

Dive Insight:

GNC has been in the midst of a major rebranding — changing over its stores, its executive leadership, even its products — and its banned ad touted how change, difficult as it may be, is a good thing. “That is what life is — change,” the ad says in part.

The rejection of the retailer’s ad took the company by surprise, Hennion told USA Today, but he told Retail Dive that the ad will nevertheless run in several markets. And he said the company ensures transparency and safety in its products. 

"While we are disappointed by Fox Sports/NFL’s late-in-the-game decision to exclude our ad from the Super Bowl, we continue to be excited about the campaign," he said in an email. "The ad will run in numerous media outlets and reach millions of people with genuine and inspiring stories of the courage to change. The NFL is one of many sports governing bodies, all with specific and widely varying policies. At GNC, we follow FDA regulations and our own strict standards to ensure customers know what’s in our products and that they are safe and of the highest quality."

It’s not clear whether the NFL or its players have deals with other supplement companies or believe that the organization or its players should actively warn the public away from such businesses. Some athletes have endorsed supplements, like eicosanoyl-5 hydroxytryptamide, that are purported to be good for health but aren’t widely recommended by the medical community. Requests for comment from Retail Dive to the NFL and the players union were not immediately returned.

GNC in December closed and swiftly reopened its 4,464 U.S. owned and franchised stores with a new look as part of its “One New GNC” rebranding effort. Among its adjustments, the company is replacing its multiple pricing structures across channels and membership levels to offer the same prices in store and on it is website. It also revamped its loyalty program.

The changes are the result of a 90-day review of GNC's business undertaken by interim CEO Robert Moran, who took his post in July, following the abrupt resignation of former CEO Michael Archbold. That review revealed a floundering strategy, what Moran in October called “a badly broken business model in need of change.”

As the NFL’s issues with the retailer’s ad show, some of GNC’s problems start with the products themselves: Supplements in general are under scrutiny from public health officials and state attorneys general. Faced with mounting concerns over the effectiveness of its signature dietary supplements that culminated in a damning New York State attorney general’s office probe, Archbold had shifted GNC’s emphasis to its vitamin business.

But his efforts were undermined by cuts to the company’s marketing budget, and in late April 2016, GNC announced plans to sell and refranchise 84 of its stores to Sun Holdings for $17 million. At the time, GNC said it was looking to sell a total of 200 company-owned stores this year and another 1,000 over the next several years.