Supplement Ads Contain Lies?
Um, well... YES. That isn't news. That is just part of doing business in the supplement world.
What is news is that the FTC has actually fined a few companies for claims that were “not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence.”...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16491115/
$25 million in fines between these 4 large companies? Is it me, or does that sound a lot like a slap on the wrist? Is that really scary for those companies? I doubt it. I expect they will just find new, innovative ways to mislead the masses into buying their products.
Note that this action involved the big fish in the enormous weight loss market. The small fish still swim unabated. All those mass building supplements??? Well, outside of a threatening letter, it is doubtful that the governmental agencies will find the resources to take them to task anytime soon.
That means that all those worthless "testosterone boosters" will keep claiming 500% increases. And people will continue to email me and ask me if they are valid.
Most interesting in this article is that 2 in 3 believe that the FDA tests supplements. Doesn't happen. Since 1994 and DSHEA, supplement marketers have had a pretty loose leash when it comes to claims and labeling. Read that another way, they can pretty much lie and get away with it.
How? While what they do can be fraudulent at its worse and sleazy at its best, they have numbers on their side. Not the numbers that they use in their misleading claims - the numbers that show there are thousands and thousands of supplements being marketed and not enough resources within the FDA and FTC to effectively police them.
More on bodybuilding supplement marketing
JP
What is news is that the FTC has actually fined a few companies for claims that were “not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence.”...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16491115/
$25 million in fines between these 4 large companies? Is it me, or does that sound a lot like a slap on the wrist? Is that really scary for those companies? I doubt it. I expect they will just find new, innovative ways to mislead the masses into buying their products.
Note that this action involved the big fish in the enormous weight loss market. The small fish still swim unabated. All those mass building supplements??? Well, outside of a threatening letter, it is doubtful that the governmental agencies will find the resources to take them to task anytime soon.
That means that all those worthless "testosterone boosters" will keep claiming 500% increases. And people will continue to email me and ask me if they are valid.
Most interesting in this article is that 2 in 3 believe that the FDA tests supplements. Doesn't happen. Since 1994 and DSHEA, supplement marketers have had a pretty loose leash when it comes to claims and labeling. Read that another way, they can pretty much lie and get away with it.
How? While what they do can be fraudulent at its worse and sleazy at its best, they have numbers on their side. Not the numbers that they use in their misleading claims - the numbers that show there are thousands and thousands of supplements being marketed and not enough resources within the FDA and FTC to effectively police them.
More on bodybuilding supplement marketing
JP
posted by JP Clifford at 4:59 AM
1 Comments:
Yes media advertising does lie, we really have to research a lot to shift through it all.
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