FTC and Competition Bureau join forces over fake diet pills
consumers off popping diet pills that make false claims for fast
weight-loss, with their own spoof website pretending to tout such
products.
At first glance the site, in English, Spanish and, most recently, French, purports to sell an egg plant derived diet pill called 'FatFoe', which is said to allow users to lose up to 10 pounds a week without exercising and while still eating their favorite fatty foods.
Once the user clicks through to find out more information or try to order the product, however, it is revealed as part of the USDA/Competition Bureau campaign designed to warn customers off such products.
As for 'FatFoe', it is nonexistent and the claims made on the website impossible.
The hope is that consumers searching for diet pills will stumble across the site, and it will teach them to be wary of similar false claims made by other products on the market.
"The claims made for 'FatFoe' represent 'red flags' to consumers because they are almost always false or misleading," said the USDA.
The department launched its red flag campaign in February 2003, initially to make the media aware of seven claims that should make it question the efficacy of an advertised product:
That users could lose more than two pounds per week (over four or more weeks) without cutting back on calories and/or stepping up physical activity; that users could lose substantial weight while eating unlimited amounts of high calorie foods; that weight loss is permanent, even once the user has stopped using the product; that the product causes substantial weight loss by blocking fat or calorie absorption; that users could safely lose more than three pounds per week without conveying the need for medical supervision; that users could lose substantial weight through a product worn on the body or rubbed into the skin; that the product causes substantial weight loss for all users.
It was reinforced in November 2004 with 'Operation Big Fat Lie', a nation-wide enforcement sweep that saw it bring cases against a number of companies that made at least one of the Red Flag claims in advertising.
The FTC has since extracted hefty penalties from some of the companies alleged to have breached its regulations, such as Iworx and Selfworx.com, with which it reached a $100,000 settlement in May.
In April this year a survey carried out by the FTC said that the number of obviously false weight-loss claims for dietary supplements, creams and patches fell from 50 percent in 2001 to just 15 percent in 2004.
