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National Safety Associates

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

National Safety Associates (NSA) is a privately owned multi-level marketing company based in Collierville, Tennessee, best known for selling the nutritional supplement Juice Plus.

History

The company was founded in 1970 by Jay Martin, a schoolteacher-turned-entrepreneur, who continues as CEO as of 2012.[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 multi-level 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 United States 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 United States 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 1994 telling 8,000 Juice Plus distributors at a NSA convention in Dallas, Texas, 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.[6][8][9][10][11] 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 its business outside the United States, and according to NSA, was selling products in 33 countries as of the year 2000.[14]

NSA stopped manufacturing and marketing its water filter product line in 2007.

References

  1. ^ Partial company history as of 2012 (archived 2013-10-13)
  2. ^ Campbell, Laurel (August 31, 1993). "NSA returns to marketing focus, trims Memphis staff". The Commercial Appeal. Memphis.
  3. ^ Friedman, Roger (November 21, 2006). "If O.J. Simpson did it, this is how". Fox News Channel. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  4. ^ Deutsch, Linda (July 19, 1995). "Simpson exercise video shown in murder trial. Defendant jokes about punching wives". Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
  5. ^ "Simpson said capsules killed his arthritis pain". San Jose Mercury News. February 17, 1995. p. 15A. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  6. ^ a b Barrett, Stephen. "Juice Plus: A Critical Look". MLM Watch. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
  7. ^ Morrison, Patt (September 14, 2007). "Book review: After 'yuck,' the farce of O.J. Simpson's book -- 'If I Did It' reads like a self-absorbed counseling session". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2007-09-15. [dead link]
  8. ^ Shearer, Harry (October 29, 1996). "O.J. by the sea". Slate. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  9. ^ Friedman, Roger (June 3, 2004). "O.J. defense doctor: 'some guilty people are set free'". Fox News Channel. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  10. ^ "Partial transcript of Simpson civil trial (Regina D. Chavez official reporter)". CNN. October 24, 1995. Archived from the original on 2007-02-08. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  11. ^ "Simpson civil trial transcript (Regina D. Chavez official reporter)". CNN. January 6, 1997. Archived from the original on 2007-02-09. Retrieved 2007-09-15.
  12. ^ "Juice Plus". Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
  13. ^ a b "Juice Plus—and minus" (PDF). University of California Berkeley Wellness Letter. Retrieved 2006-10-15.
  14. ^ "Business notes". Jefferson City News-Tribune. November 26, 2000.
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