I’ve started listening to AM radio while I drive (yeah, yeah, I know…), and I was pretty shocked by some of the ridiculous advertisements I’ve been hearing. Stuff like “carbohydrate blockers that let you eat whatever you want and lose weight”, various pseudo-medical creams and sprays that “work instantly with no side effects”, as well as the usual things like baldness cures, cosmetics to take 40 years off your age, etc. My question is: what can I do about this? It all seems pretty fraudulent to me, seeing as there is no way most of these products can work as advertised. Can I report this to the FCC or something? What are the applicable laws?
Usually these outfits have lawyers go over their copy with a fine tooth comb to make sure they can weasel out of any false advertising claims. Phrases like “lose up to 50 lbs.” can mean anything from 0 - 50. The fast-talking disclaimers at the end also negate some of the more blatant claims. All you can really do is take them with a grain of salt.
The FTC can handle complaints of this kind. Here’s an article about ‘Body Solutions’(loose weight while you sleep!). Radio Fraudcasting
I’ve given up listening to the ads themselves, but I like to listen to the disclaimers, to see how they’re getting away with the claims.
Here are some of my favorites:
“Results may not be typical. Your actual weight loss may vary.”
“Some individuals may not experience weight loss.”
“Use this product with a program of diet and exercise.” (Hey, if I had a program of diet and exercise I wouldn’t be fat!)
“These claims have not been reviewed by the Food and drug Administration.”
The latest trick is to have the announcer read the disclaimers quickly, in a flat monotone. Then the engineers go in and take out all the pauses between words, sentences and even syllables. The result is a highspeed mash of sounds jammed together that the average listener can’t pry apart.
I know I’ve heard some that are blatantly false. My favorite is one for a product called “Sea Silver,” which they repeatedly claim contains “every enzyme and mineral known to science,” which is just ludicrous. Does it contain botulinim toxin? That’s an enzyme. How about the cholera AB toxin? Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase? How about minerals? How much arsenic is in there? Chromium? Technecium? Yttrium? Americium? Etc, etc, etc.
/science geek
I’ve been seeing penish enlargement pills advertised on TV and radio, too.
It seems like it’s only been in the past few years when these ads have begun to pop up. Did Bush scrap all the consumer protection and truth-in-advertising laws?