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Media Guidance
The centerpiece of
the FTC campaign is educational guidance to the media that
identifies seven common weight-loss claims made for products
available over-the-counter, including nonprescription drugs, dietary
supplements, creams, wraps, devices, and patches that are
scientifically infeasible at the current time. These claims include:
- Causes weight
loss of two pounds or more a week for a month, or more without
dieting or exercise.
- Causes
substantial weight loss, no matter what or how much the consumer
eats.
- Causes permanent
weight loss (even when the consumer stops using the product).
- Blocks the
absorption of fat or calories to enable consumers to lose
substantial weight.
- Safely enables
consumers to lose more than three pounds per week for more than
four weeks.
- Causes
substantial weight loss for all users.
- Causes
substantial weight loss by wearing it on the body or rubbing it
into the skin.
“We know that no
publication or station wants to print or air false weight-loss
claims,” Chairman Muris said. “This booklet provides specific
examples of bogus claims, along with explanations that will allow
media advertising personnel to avoid bogus weight loss claims and
stop them before they injure consumers. We encourage the media to
use it.”
The
Commission vote to release the staff report.
Copies
of the FTC staff weight-loss report are available from the FTC’s Web
site at http://www.ftc.gov
and also from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 750, 600
Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. The FTC works for
the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business
practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help
consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint, or to get
free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free,
1-877-FTC-HELP
(1 877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov.
The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other
fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online
database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement
agencies in the U.S. and abroad.
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