FTC guides consumers, media on deceptive diet ads 
Dec.9, 2003
 
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Trade Commission released a guide Tuesday to help consumers and the media spot deceptive weight-loss products. The goal is to prevent consumers from wasting their money and to get newspapers and broadcasters to reject advertisements.

"If the message is too good to be true, then it is probably not true. You need to diet and exercise to lose weight," Timothy Muris, the FTC chairman, said Tuesday.

Asked on NBC's Today show why his agency is undertaking the initiative at this time, Muris said, "There's serious problems. The problem of obesity is significant and growing, and in terms of the media in the last few years, we've seen a lot more of these ads creep into the mainstream media."

"More than half of Americans have a problem with their weight, and the quick idea of taking a pill and not having to do the hard work of diet and exercise lures a lot" of people, he said.

Product claims that should raise suspicion include: users can lose two pounds or more a week for a month without dieting or exercise; that it causes permanent weight loss even after the customer stops taking it; that it provides substantial weight loss if rubbed into the skin or worn on the body; and that everyone who uses it loses substantial weight.

Lose weight without dieting or exercise! Eat your way to a trimmer you! Block fat before your body can absorb it! According to the government, what products using those slogans should really say is: "I lost $350 in two weeks. Ask me how!"

"Ads for so-called miracle weight loss products are often empty promises," the FTC said in its guide. "Despite their claims, there are no easy ways to lose weight and burn off fat."

In September 2002 the FTC reported that 55% of weight-loss ads included claims that were almost certainly false or misleading. The agency is asking newspapers, broadcasters and cable television stations to avoid running ads for questionable products.

The FTC has brought at least 100 lawsuits since 1990 against companies accused of selling phony weight-loss products.

From Forbes.com  December 9
Help For Lazy, Duped, Fat Americans
Dan Ackman, 12.09.03, 9:15 AM ET
NEW YORK - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission must be getting very tired of keeping Americans fit and trim. A year ago, the agency held a massive workshop on deceptive advertising for weight-loss products and its chairman suggested that media outlets might be liable if they did not rein in false claims. This idea came after years of enforcement efforts in which agency lawyers brought lawsuit after lawsuit against the advertisers themselves.

The teach-in provided little help, it seems, and now the FTC is primed to announce a program asking newspapers, magazines and TV and radio networks to voluntarily staunch deceptive ads by weight-loss marketers. In order to help the media identify fraudulent claims, the FTC will issue a report called "Red Flag: Bogus Weight Loss Claims," listing the types of claims that it says should cause media to question an ad.

The initial response from the media: We'll do what we can, but no promises.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola  says the soft-drink industry should itself work to find solutions for obesity, a condition that affects roughly one in three Americans, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. "A simplistic piece of government regulation will not address the problem," said Coke Chief Executive Douglas Daft, speaking at an industry conference in New York, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Coca-Cola is the world's largest maker of sugary drinks. Unlike McDonalds , it has avoided lawsuits charging it with causing obesity, but the issue should be "top of mind," Daft said--as it presents one of the biggest challenges the soft-drink business has faced in the last 50 years. Others in the snack and soda industry like Kraft Foods  and PepsiCo have vowed to change the formulation of their products to meet weight and health concerns.

Daft said the soda sellers should offer consumers healthy drinks--which, of course, it does already. He called the idea of restricting soft-drink sales "absurd and outrageous" and urged the public to exercise more, as Coke has been publicizing studies indicating that Americans don't consume more calories than they used to, but they do enjoy more sedentary pleasures such as videogames, computers and watching TV.

On those televisions and computers are some of the ads that the FTC has been trying to stop. FTC studies have found that an "unacceptably high" 55% of weight-loss ads contain false or unsupported claims. It wants to stop the ads before they reach consumers--even as it continues to sue the false advertisers--so the $38 billion Americans spend on weight-loss products annually ($8 billion more than the figure the FTC cited a year ago) won't be wasted.

The ads may be "keeping people from doing what they are going to have to do if they want to lose weight--which is to eat less and exercise more," Howard Beales, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, told Dow Jones. But the agency has backed off suggestions that it might sue media outlets that run the ads, not just the advertisers who place them.

Among the clearly false claims that the FTC would red-flag are those that promise weight loss of 2 pounds or more week after week without diet or exercise, or those that promise substantial weight loss by wearing something on the body or rubbing a cream into the skin. Assertions that consumers can eat what they want, not exercise and still lose weight will also draw the red flag.

"The only way to lose weight is to lower caloric intake and/or increase physical activity," the FTC says. But Americans still spend billions to learn the latest ways--some valid, others bogus--to do one or the other.


From forbes.com

Pulling The Plug On Fat Ads
Allison Fass, 08.05.03, 7:00 AM ET

NEW YORK - Companies who make fatty foods are under fire for their role in America's obesity. So how about the part their advertising plays in encouraging people to plow through a bag full of Doritos or a box of Oreos?

Some health advocates have already called for certain restrictions on food advertising in the United States. Indeed, the other industry closely scrutinized for its health effects, tobacco, has had strict advertising regulations for decades. In 1971, cigarette advertising was effectively banned from television and radio. And in 1998, as part of the tobacco settlement between states and major tobacco companies, the cigarette makers agreed to remove all ads from outdoor and transit billboards.

There would be enormous repercussions if food ads faced bans or increased regulation, possibly affecting the entire landscape of fast-food franchises, packaged-goods players and grocery retailers. Giant food advertisers like McDonald's , Altria Group which owns a majority of Kraft Foods --and PepsiCo  are all in the top-25 U.S. advertisers, and each spent more than $1 billion on advertising last year. One estimate of marketing and advertising expenditure by the food industry tops $25 billion.

Surely not all food advertising could be wiped out; food is essentially good. But considered theoretically, the economic loss could be tremendous. Not only would it mean major cutbacks in ad spending--potentially restraining the exposure of the food companies to consumers--but it could also put limitations on most media, from television and radio to newspapers and magazines. And then there are other companies whose very existence relies on the continued presence of these major marketers, including advertising agencies, branding firms and production companies.                                                                                                       






The possibility for such legislation does exist. "I find the likelihood very low," says Daniel Jaffe, executive vice president for government relations at the Association of National Advertisers, "but not impossible." More recent efforts to further restrict tobacco advertising, as in the 2001 case of Lorillard Tobacco V. Reilly, have been thwarted by First Amendment claims. And Jaffe points out important differences between food and tobacco: Food is legal, and there "certainly isn't credible evidence foods are addictive," he says.

But legislators are beginning to consider the need--and state provisions have been attempted to ban or discourage food advertising in schools. In June, New York State Assemblyman Felix Ortiz introduced legislation to impose a sales tax on TV ads for certain foods and other products to raise money for obesity programs. So maybe it's more than a lark.

"We've been talking to legislators who are just beginning to think about what they should do about it," says Margo Wootan, director for nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "Whether they think there needs to be more money for counteradvertising or actual restrictions on the kinds of foods that are marketed to children and the techniques that are used."

FTC pressures media to reject bogus diet ads   Posted 11/20/2002 5:59 PM
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
Some media groups Wednesday chafed at the Federal Trade Commission's pressure on newspapers, magazines and cable channels to reject false or deceptive diet ads, saying they are ill-equipped to make such judgments.

"They're not scientists; they're not regulators," says Chris Nolan, general counsel for the Magazine Publishers of America. "They're not capable of making these kinds of decisions on deadline."

In meetings this month, FTC Chairman Tim Muris asked media outlets and industry groups to refuse to run false and deceptive weight-loss ads, which he says have become more prevalent in recent years.

"We are asking the media to cooperate in trying to reduce incidents of obviously false claims," says J. Howard Beales III, director of the FTC's bureau of consumer protection. Nearly 40% of weight-loss ads in a recent FTC study made at least one false claim, and 55% made a claim likely to be false.

The FTC plans to compile a list of patently bogus claims for media outlets, such as "Lose weight while you sleep." The move is part of a broader FTC crackdown that will also include more lawsuits challenging weight-loss claims, Beales says.

Rob Stoddard, spokesman for the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, says, "We'd be happy to continue the dialogue with the FTC."

And John Kimball of the Newspaper Association of America says the group will pass the FTC guidelines to its members. "A newspaper has no interest in running fraudulent or misleading advertising," he says.

But Nolan says many magazines would likely reject all weight-loss ads "rather than run the risk of making a mistake." That, he says, "would have a chilling effect on otherwise protected speech."

Courts have generally ruled that media outlets are not responsible for the content of advertisements, say Nolan and Samir Jain, a lawyer specializing in First Amendment issues at Wilmer Cutler & Pickering.

But if media start accepting some ads and rejecting others, they would set themselves up as arbiters. That could make them legally liable if they are sued for false advertising, Nolan says.

Magazine publishers plan to make that case with FTC officials and ask them to reconsider, he says.

"We're not saying the media should set up an elaborate screening process," Beales says, but simply to reject clearly fraudulent ads based on FTC criteria.

"If we put out a list of false claims, and they ignore it," that makes them more vulnerable to consumer lawsuits, Beales says.

Indeed, Jain says, "A media outlet isn't responsible for the accuracy of an advertisement — unless it's clear on its face" that it's fraudulent.

Asked if the FTC would sue outlets that refuse to screen false ads, Beales says, "I think that's premature," but added it would be among the FTC's options.

Forbes.com story from 11/20/02
FTC Says Cut The Fat
Dan Ackman, 11.20.02, 8:46 AM ET

NEW YORK - Americans spend more than $30 billion a year on diet products, according to the Federal Trade Commission--and it's not working: 61% of U.S. adults are overweight. Part of the problem--and it's getting bigger--may be that many of the advertisements for weight-loss products are false and misleading, the FTC says. But that aspect seems like a veritable after-dinner mint swallowed while driving the SUV away from the all-you-can-eat.

Yesterday, the FTC held a workshop on deceptive weight-loss product advertising and its impact on public health, and the commission chairman turned up the heat by pressing cable channels, newspapers and magazines to screen and reject the ads--suggesting they could be sued if they don't.

Some 54 million Americans are currently on a diet, according to the International Food Information Council. Some succeed in taking weight off, but perhaps just 5% manage to keep the weight off over the long term. It's hard to argue that false advertising plays a major part in that failure.

The FTC workshop is part of an ongoing effort for the FTC. It says that since 1990 it has filed 93 cases challenging false and misleading weight-loss claims involving over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, commercial weight-loss centers, weight-loss devices and exercise equipment. "Despite the unprecedented level of FTC enforcement over the last decade though, misleading and deceptive ads continue to saturate the market," the agency said in a recent report on the topic.

But the FTC is a relatively small agency and they can only bring so many cases. So yesterday, FTC Chairman Timothy Muris appealed for help from the media that run the ads. Infomercials--which are longer than regular TV ads and therefore contain more claims, including false claims--are sometimes singled out for blame.

Media outlets are likely to get their backs up if the FTC presses too hard. If, for instance, Muris carries out a veiled threat to sue newspapers or television stations in an attempt to force action, that would raise First Amendment concerns. Another concern is whether self-policing would really have any impact on public health.

Squelching false advertising can't hurt. But will it help? Perhaps not. While advertisers appear to perpetrate many false claims, as the FTC says, there are certainly many ads to which the FTC does not object. There are hundreds of books on dieting--with more published weekly. There are also an untold number of magazine articles on the topic.

When these products "fail" it's easy to blame the advertising or to attack "fad diet" books spouting "half-truths." The FTC, for instance, says that health and nutrition experts agree that many of the most heavily advertised weight-loss products and programs are either unproven or unsafe and that they frustrate efforts to promote healthy weight loss.

False speaking is a problem. But there is also a problem with the listening. Some diet experts say that even the best diets are unlikely to be successful, either because people are unrealistic in their goals or because "diets"--fad or otherwise, falsely advertised or not--tend not to work. The only sure way to maintain a healthy weight is through long-term lifestyle changes involving both eating habits and exercise. That's not news, but many people tune it out.

Over time, Americans have become more sedentary and food has become much cheaper in relative terms. It may be foolish to blame McDonalds , Burger King and Krispy Kreme for the national waistline, but these companies put out more ads than most. They are giving the people what they want; many of those same people then load up on diet products.

It's a good idea to stop advertisers from purveying false solutions that can distract consumers from more sensible alternatives. But some responsibility must rest on the heads and in the bellies of those so easily distracted.