By Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Americans putting their faith
in so-called miracle cures to shed unwanted pounds are bound to
be disappointed, U.S. regulators said on Tuesday in announcing
settlements with four companies accused of deceptively
advertising such weight-loss products.
The Federal Trade Commission won agreements from L’Occitane,
Inc.; Sensa Products LLC; HCG Diet Direct LLC; and Leanspa LLC.
The settlements required them to drop unsubstantiated claims
from their ads and, in some cases, to return money to consumers.
The FTC also urged media outlets to scrutinize
advertisements more carefully to avoid publishing potentially
misleading ads, noting that some of the advertisements for the
products – from food additives to skin creams – appeared in
mainstream publications.
The commission provided guidance for publishers and
broadcasters on how to screen weight-loss claims in
advertisements.
The only slim element of the products is their chance of
success, said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of
Consumer Protection.
“Resolutions to lose weight are easy to make but hard to
keep. And the chances of being successful just by sprinkling
something on your food, rubbing cream on your thighs, or using a
supplement are slim to none,” Rich said.
Attempts to reach the four companies by telephone, e-mail or
Twitter were not immediately successful.
One agreement was with Sensa, which said that its powder
sprinkled on food would cause weight loss and peddled it on
television infomercials, magazine advertisements and online ads.
The company said the powder “is clinically proven to cause
substantial weight loss without dieting or exercise, averaging
30 pounds in six months,” the FTC said in a court filing. In
contrast, a study of the product by a Sensa company executive
found that users lost an average of 5.6 pounds over six months,
the FTC said in its court filing.
A one-month supply of Sensa’s powder cost $59.00, plus
shipping and handling, the FTC said. Sensa agreed to return
$26.5 million to consumers, the commission said.
In a separate court filing, the FTC said L’Occitane agreed
to pay $450,000 to reimburse customers who purchased two skin
creams that promised “clinically proven slimming effectiveness”
and would “visibly reduce the appearance of cellulite.”
There was no evidence that the cream slimmed thighs or
reduced cellulite, the FTC said.
A third company, HCG Diet Direct, sold liquid drops that it
said contained a hormone produced by human placenta that would
help people lose weight. Under a settlement, the company agreed
to an order requiring it to pay $3.2 million. The judgment was
suspended because the company could not pay it.
The FTC also reached a settlement with LeanSpa, which had
used fake news websites to advertise the acai berry as a
weight-loss miracle product until the company was shut down by
the FTC and Connecticut attorney general’s office in 2011.
Boris Mizhen, a LeanSpa executive, will surrender $7 million
in cash and property while his wife, who did not participate in
the scheme, will surrender $300,000.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz, editing by Ros Krasny and Amanda
Kwan)
