Ad Firm Behind Bogus Weight Loss Claims Fined $2M: Health And Wellness Industry News

FTC and Maine would collect $2m under a settlement on complaint that Marketing Architects created ads for a weight loss supplement firm already targeted by FTC for false claims; Long Life Unlimited warned on claims; and UK catalog claims healing powers for meristem.

FTC record judgment against ad agency

The Federal Trade Commission and Maine will collect $2m from an advertising firm, Marketing Architects Inc., that disseminated false marketing for weight loss supplements in a proposed settlement marking the agency's largest judgement against an ad agency.

In a proposed order for injunction filed Feb. 5 in a US District Court for the Maine District and yet to be approved by a judge, Marketing Architects is banned from making any of the seven “gut check” weight loss claims FTC has advised are always false and from misrepresenting the experience of consumer testimonials. It also is required to have competent and reliable scientific evidence to support any other claims it disseminates and for 10 years to comply with requests from the agency and the state for proof of its compliance with federal and state business regulations. The judgment allotted to FTC will be used for consumer redress and the amount earmarked for Maine will go toward consumer education, protection and antitrust enforcement.

The Minneapolis advertising firm from 2006 to 2015 created and disseminated false or unsubstantiated claims for created ads for Direct Alternatives and Original Organics LLC's AF Plus and Final Trim products, which became the target of an FTC investigation settled in 2016, according to the complaint filed the same day. FTC alleged that Marketing Architects should have known better than to disseminate false claims because Direct Alternatives provided the firm with documents indicating some of the weight-loss claims the agency later challenged needed support from by scientific evidence.

Additionally, FTC and Maine accuse Marketing Architects of creating fictitious weight-loss testimonials and ads disguised as news stories and of writing inbound scripts that failed to adequately disclose that consumers would be automatically enrolled in negative-option continuity plans.

Portland, Maine-based Direct Alternatives' principals agreed to a $16.4m judgement that could be suspended after the principals liquidated a substantial portion of their assets, including real estate. (Also see "Industry Roundup: Pfizer Earnings, Tylenol Litigation, FTC Enforcement" - HBW Insight, 4 Feb, 2016.) FTC noted Marketing Architects developed similar weight loss ads for Sensa Products LLC, which in 2014 agreed to pay $26.5m (Also see "FTC Settles Big With Sensa, Other Weight-Loss Marketers" - Pink Sheet, 8 Jan, 2014.)

Long Life Unlimited warned on claims

Dietary supplement and personal care product firm's Long Life Unlimited LLC's drug claims on its website include a “Cancer Protocol” list of products and directions and that a product "can help reduce hypoglycemia by stabilizing and regulating blood sugar," according to an FDA warning letter. The FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs Cincinnati district on Jan. 31 told the Lima, Ohio, firm that a review of its website earlier in the month found noncompliant claims making its supplements unapproved new drugs including Balance 600, D-Limonene, vitamin C, Buffered TR, Multi Forte Plus, natural beta carotene, natural vitamin E, Omnizyme, thymus, selenium chelate, Super 15, and Super B-10. Testimonials for Balance 600's benefits for diabetes also were violative.

Drug claims for its Rapha Remedy lotion include "used as a soothing salve for treatment of the symptoms resulting from" eczema, rosacea and other conditions while Rapha Remedy with P73 Wild Oregano Oil is a salve for treatment of symptoms resulting from conditions including gangrene, MRSA and staph, parasites and “Basal, Squamous-cell Carcinoma and Melanoma cells,” ORA stated. And because the products are intended for treatment of one or more diseases not amenable to self-diagnosis or treatment without the supervision of a licensed practitioner, they are misbranded without adequate directions for a layperson.

UK catalog claims healing powers for meristem

A UK firm's catalog contained 18 pages of unsubstantiated claims for a dietary supplement containing meristem, the tissue in areas of plants where growth can take place, including "totally clear arteries" and "veins are quickly toned up and rejuvenated," the country's advertising regulator says. The Advertising Standards Authority on Feb. 7 said a firm identified as Source Ltd but listed without a location, did not respond to a request to substantiate claims made in a catalog for a meristem supplement distributed in August 2017. The claims also included "good digestion guaranteed," "enhanced sexual prowess” and “specially recommended for” a range of medical conditions and diseases" from arterial disease to hemorrhoids, Parkinson’s to chronic fatigue and from diarrhea to osteoporosis. ASA said the catalog's claims violated UK regulation that claims that state or imply a food prevents, treats or cures human disease are acceptable if authorized by the European Commission and listed in the updated Annex of the EU Regulation. Source's claims also violated UK requirements for marketing communications with nutrition or health claims to be supported by documentary evidence; referring to general benefits of a nutrient or food for overall good health or well-being only with a specific authorized health claim; and referring to the recommendation only by associations that are a health-related charity or a national representative body of medicine, nutrition or dietetics.

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