Today’s consumer has to put up with a continuous and never-ending torrent of supplement ads peddling near miraculous benefits in a little pill. Most of the marketing is done online. A variety of nutritional components – herbs, vitamins, minerals and often unknown substances – are packed together and promoted with pseudo-scientific claims. U.S., British and Canadian law, as well as the laws of most countries, don’t require evidence to prove their claims. As long as no disease is specifically mentioned, bogus marketers can promise a remedy for almost any condition. Below are 9 common methods the unscrupulous marketers employ. Most of the points apply to online scams in general.
1) The
majority of supplement scams contain gushing testimonials from over-enthused “customers”
who at first were skeptical, but then did some “research”. To their surprise,
they discovered that Garcinia Cambogia, Green Coffee Bean Extract, Acai Berries
or Raspberry Ketones did indeed deliver the benefits the “scientists” claimed. The
old axiom still applies – if it sounds too good to be true…. Photos of many of
these endorsers are on other fraudulent sites shamelessly hawking other
counterfeit products.
2) These
testimonials have become a profitable industry. Scammers try to impress
shoppers by pointing them to hundreds of glowing reviews in both reputable and fake
review sites. For a low fee they use overseas writers who list themselves in
international web sites like freelancer.com. Thousands of trained reviewers
post glowing testimonials using an endless number of aliases and fake
addresses, all posing as unbiased consumers. The Consumerist crowdsourced 30 ways to spot fake online reviews. One
of them is:
“The reviewers say the
entire name and model of the product over and over. This is often a sign of a
cheap attempt to game search engine results. i.e. ‘The bright colors of the ABC
Widget are the best I’ve ever seen and I never want to be without my ABC Widget!” http://consumerist.com/2010/04/14/how-you-spot-fake-online-reviews/
3)
Many supplements and herbal remedies are promoted as “clinically proven” from
reputable “clinical studies”. However, the names of the scientists and
scientific journals are often phony. A Google search for the researcher’s names
reveals no results. The journal’s mission statement is often vague: “On the
cusp of exciting research to help transform lives.” For the savvy consumer
willing to check the company’s physical address, a Google Maps search reveals a
randomly chosen suburban house owned by unsuspecting residents. As for the
journal itself, there is no such medical publication listed after a search at
the US National Library of Medicine’s PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed.
4) The
small print right at the bottom of the ad is usually so small that one needs a
magnifying glass to read it. Most people don’t bother. To project legitimacy
and possibly avoid legal action, some companies make honest and accurate
statement for the few willing to squint. The surprised shopper will read
statements like:
“Testimonials are based on the experiences of a few
people and results vary.”
“Results are not guaranteed.”
“This product does not work for everyone.”
“This is a paid advertisement and not an actual news
article.”
5) A
clever method used to dupe shoppers is to prominently display major media logos
in an attempt to impress and lend legitimacy to the product. Usually there will
be small print like “As seen on” right before logos from CNN, ABC, MSNBC, Fox,
etc. In some cases the claim is accurate – the product was once advertised on
the media’s web site!
6) Free samples are offered but with strings
attached. The small amount of $4.99 is charged to the customer’s credit card to
cover shipping and handling. However, once the customer has reached the 2 -3
week trial period, if they have not canceled, an automatic $50 to $100 is
charged to the customer’s credit card for the first’s month’s regular supply.
The trial period usually begins on the date of the online order and therefore
includes shipping time. In many cases the trial period is too short for the
buyer to assess results.
7) To
make the ad more credible some sites will give a testimonial from someone who
lives right in the potential buyer’s own city! In other words, readers in
different cities will see slightly different text. Simple online code on the
page recognizes the reader’s location through Google and automatically types
the reader’s location in the text.
8) Some
scam artists display high quality video testimonials on their web page. It
could even be footage from a major television network. What the scam artist
does is copy and edit short segments from a speaker saying something positive
about a product they benefited from. The name of the product is nowhere in the
video testimonial! Text right above the video leads the reader to assume the
speaker is endorsing the offering on the web site.
9)
Clinical neurologist and Yale University School of Medicine professor Steven
Novella investigated the Alpha Brain supplement scam and outlined the common pseudo-scientific
methods used to market quackery:
“Several types of deceptive use of evidence are common:
using basic science studies to support clinical claims, using studies in ill
subjects to make claims about enhancing normal function, referencing secondary
sources or sources that do not support the claims being made, and making inappropriate
comparisons to different doses and routes of administration.” https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/alpha-brain-whats-wrong-with-the-supplement-industry/
Sources
David Schardt, “Clicker Beware” Nutrition Action HealthLetter, March 2015
David Schardt, “Clicker Beware” Nutrition Action HealthLetter, March 2015
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Photo: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm341344.htm CC
Jerry De Luca is a Christian freelance writer who loves perusing dozens of interesting and informative publications. When he finds any useful info he summarizes it, taking the main points, and creates a (hopefully) helpful blog post.
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While working on a product package design, a customer once sent me a list of customer endorsements that raved about the brand new product. Curiously, one of them was me! Not only was the glowing review foreign to me, I had not even tried the items. Standing my ground, I had them retract my "endorsement."
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