Recent action by the Federal Trade Commission serves as a reminder that diet-product companies are the modern P.T. Barnum. You know, something about suckers and one being born every minute.
How else to explain Americans’ unending willingness to be duped by the most outrageous of diet claims. The more absurd the claim, the better, it seems, as human nature leads those who desire weight loss to seek the simplest path to dieting. This comes as no surprise in a culture that celebrates the easy route to success. Want to get rich? Play the lottery. Want to grow hair? Just rub a certain cream on your head. Want to lose weight? Simply sprinkle some powder on your food.
That is what consumers of Sensa have been doing, embracing the notion that the powder will help make you feel full and cause you to eat less. At least that’s what the product’s makers have claimed, and plenty of people have been buying. From 2008 to 2012, Sensa had U.S. sales of more than $364 million, selling a one-month supply for $59 and urging consumers to “sprinkle, eat, and lose weight.” The FTC had a problem with that, and it made Sensa Products one of the targets of its annual crackdown on companies that make bogus diet claims. Determining that Sensa had little foundation for the assertion that it is a diet product, the FTC reached a settlement in which the company will return more than $26 million to consumers.
Three other bogus claims also landed in the sights of the federal commission. In one case, LeanSpa owner Boris Mizhen and three companies he controls will surrender cash, real estate and personal property worth an estimated $7 million. The companies used fake news websites to deceptively promote acai berry and “colon cleanse” weight-loss supplements, which brings up a consumer warning that should be unnecessary: Real news sites don’t promote weight-loss products.
