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FTC Fines Scam Advertisers
By Ruth Kava, Ph.D., R.D.
Although we’re not often enamored with government actions attempting to protect the public’s health, ACSH applauds the action taken this morning by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to fine unscrupulous marketers of 4 supposed weight-loss aids. Settlements with marketers of Xenadrine EFX, CortiSlim, TrimSpa, and One-A-Day WeightSmart vitamins will yield cash and assets worth at least $25 million, according to an FTC press release. Some consumers who purchased these products will now be able to get refunds.
The FTC is using its authority to regulate in an area that is increasingly important—i.e. weight control, and is protecting consumers from false claims which are difficult for the average person to evaluate. According to the FTC, the named marketers made unsubstantiated assertions about the efficacy of the products, although their ads typically touted them as having been “clinically proven.” In fact, although in some cases studies were done, the results didn’t support the marketers’ claims. For example, in a study on Xenadrine EFX, weight loss by people taking the substance was compared to that of people taking an inactive placebo pill. That’s an appropriate comparison—but the folks on the placebo actually lost more weight than those on the Xenadrine EFX—a result not mentioned in the advertisements.
Marketers of these products often rely on benefits suggested by a few small research reports and extrapolate the findings to push their products on unsophisticated consumers. Small studies have suggested that a herbal product, Hoodia gordonii, can suppress appetite. But this doesn’t mean that the amount in TrimSpa’s product will be effective. And the suggestion in many ads for weight-loss aids that any can be effective without attention to caloric intake or energy expenditure contradicts all the basic scientific laws governing energy balance.
We previously (see: www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.144/news_detail.asp , www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.470/news_detail.asp, www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.39/news_detail.asp ) noted the false bases for such advertisements—perhaps now that the FTC has taken action more consumers will understand why—and not be fooled into wasting their money on worthless products. ACSH is pleased to see makers of outlandish and patently false claims brought to heel, and hopes that consumers will understand that weight loss can neither be achieved nor maintained by simply popping a magic pill.
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