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

NSA (disambiguation)

NSA may refer to:Governmental agencies:* Naczelny Sad Administracyjny, the Polish Administrative High Court* National Security Agency, a United States governmental agency* National Security Agency , a Bahrain governmental agency...

National Safety Associates (NSA) is a privately-owned marketing company based in Collierville, Tennessee

Collierville, Tennessee

Collierville is a town in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and a suburb located in the Memphis metropolitan area. The town had a population of 43,965 at the 2010 census....

, best known for selling a line of water

Filter (water)

A water filter removes impurities from water by means of a fine physical barrier, a chemical process or a biological process. Filters cleanse water to various extents for irrigation, drinking water, aquariums, and swimming pools.-Methods of filtration:...

 and air filter

Air filter

A particulate air filter is a device composed of fibrous materials which removes solid particulates such as dust, pollen, mold, and bacteria from the air. A chemical air filter consists of an absorbent or catalyst for the removal of airborne molecular contaminants such as volatile organic compounds...

s, and then the nutritional supplement Juice Plus, via multi-level marketing

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...

.

History

The company was founded in 1970 by Jay Martin, a schoolteacher-turned-entrepreneur, who continues as CEO as of 2007. 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

Natural Alternatives International

Natural Alternatives International is an American company based in San Marcos, California which manufactures nutritional supplements such as Juice Plus. NAI was founded in 1980 by Mark A. LeDoux, and had 241 employees in 2007...

 in San Marcos, California

San Marcos, California

San Marcos is a suburb of San Diego in the North County section of San Diego County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 83,781. Outside the San Diego region, it is best known as the home of California State University, San Marcos...

.

NSA had some legal troubles in 1993, as the Attorney General

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

'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.

Former professional athlete O. J. Simpson

O. J. Simpson

Orenthal James "O. J." Simpson , nicknamed "The Juice", is a retired American collegiate and professional football player, football broadcaster, and actor...

 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

Nicole Brown Simpson

Nicole Brown Simpson was a former wife of professional football player O. J. Simpson.- Relationship with O. J. Simpson :...

 and her friend, Ronald Goldman

Ronald Goldman

Ronald Lyle "Ron" Goldman was an American waiter and an aspiring model. He was murdered along with Nicole Brown Simpson, former wife of O. J. Simpson, an actor and retired American football player. The subsequent criminal investigation and trial against O. J...

, 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. However, during his criminal trial

O. J. Simpson murder case

The O. J. Simpson murder case was a criminal trial held in Los Angeles County, California Superior Court from January 29 to October 3, 1995. Former American football star and actor O. J...

 in 1995 and civil trial in 1997 (and in his 2007 book If I Did It

If I Did It

If I Did It is a book by O. J. Simpson, in which he puts forth a hypothetical description of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. Simpson was tried and acquitted of the murders in a criminal trial but later found financially liable in a civil trial...

) 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

Ibuprofen

Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used for relief of symptoms of arthritis, fever, as an analgesic , especially where there is an inflammatory component, and dysmenorrhea....

. After controversy surrounding Simpson erupted, NSA cancelled his endorsement contract and stopped using the Simpson videotape to promote Juice Plus.

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

NSA stop manufacturing and marketing their water filter product line in 2007.