In early December 2003, the Federal Trade Commission issued new guidelines
to the media about accepting advertisements for weight loss products which may be
deceptive in their claims. Read how the media covered the story.
Presented below are three ads for educators to consider using. One ad comes from
the website for Trimspa; another is from a recent issue of Globe magazine;
the other from the National Enquirer.
Use of these ads in this context does not imply any deception. Rather I invite
educators/students to use media literacy concepts and critical thinking questions
and apply them to these ads. Click on the last ad for a larger version.
Here are some other questions to consider:
- who is the 'target audience' for these advertisements?
(consider the publications in which they appear)
- what do the photos in each of ads say about who the audience might be?
-how old might the "models" be in each of the ads?
-why do some key words or phrases use quotation marks?
-what claims are made? can the claims be proven?
-what propaganda techniques are used?
-why would one ad include the price, while the other excludes it?
-how important is it to include "testimonials" in an ad?
-what time of year might you expect to see MORE of these ads? Why?
FTC Fake WebSite for Student evaluation: FatFoe
Current news articles/research:
TrimSpa's Ads Change After Anna Nicole
Claims in diet-pill ads are too good to be true, FTC
Sellers of Popular Weight Loss Supplements Pay $25 Million Over FTC Allegations of Deceptive Advertising
Diet ads under scrutiny
FTC To Require Four Weight Loss Pill Companies To Change Ads And Pay Penalties
What You Need to Know About Weight-Loss Programs (Jan.2007)
Americans fall prey to weight-loss supplement hype (Oct.2006)
How adolescent girls interpret weight loss advertising (July 2006)
FTC to start naming bogus ad broadcasters
Diet & Hype (Newsweek March 2006)
"Before and After" diet ads not fair on obese people: Study
FTC Stops Bogus Ads for 'Bio Trim' and Other Weight-loss Products (Nov.2005)
This diet pill contains saturated advertising (July 2005)
Diet pill use on the rise among teenage girls (May 2005)
FTC Sees Drop in Ads with False Weight-Loss Claims( April 2005)
Weight Loss Ad Claims Disputed, Study (Dec.2004)
Diet ads promote stereotypes
Miracle-Diet Ads Lie? Well, Duh! (TIME)
Weighing the evidence in diet ads (FTC)
Download Soloflex Ad (August 2006)
Online ad for TIMSPA featuring before and after shots of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith.
(I don't know who they're trying to fool, but the picture on the left doesn't even look like her OR
was taken many years ago.)
