On Tuesday, December 9, 2003 I attended via phone a press conference held by the Federal Trade Commission on detection of bogus weight loss claims in the media. The session was conducted by FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris himself.

Muris stated that the growing rate of obesity in the United States, which is seen as a major health issue, has resulted in a great increase in advertising for fraudulent weight loss products. At any given time, Muris stated, 2/3 of US citizens are either on diets or actively trying to maintain weight. Most people know that dieting is hard work, but some fall for outrageous ads anyway. Muris stated that the FTC got involved because unlike many other advertised frauds which simply leave duped customers poorer, this kind of advertising can be hazardous. Muris stated that the FTC is at an early stage of educating itself on the issues of obesity, and that at some point they will work closer with the FDA on this, but that it seems quite obvious that healthy weights can only be achieved via proper nutrition and exercise. "There is no magic pill, there is no magic patch," Muris said.

The FTC got involved in this when it saw a significant increase in fraudulent advertising primarily in the back pages of less reputable magazines, but increasingly also in women's magazines. They were also perturbed about the large number of weight loss infomercials on TV. Some of those are even celebrity endorsed. The campaign is primarily directed at the print and other media that carry such advertising.

As a result, the FTC did three things:

2) The FTC issue a staff report on last year's workshop on fraudulent advertising and weight loss claims.

3) The FTC launched cases against some of the worst offenders.

Muris said that the FTC has launched cases against three major offenders whose advertising and promotional materials made fraudulent claims. The agency also follows 100s of other ridiculous claims, the "Lose weight while you sleep, lose 30 pounds in six days" kind.

The FTC, Muris stated, designed the Red Flag media guide to help media screening of unfeasible weight loss claims that could injure readers or listeners. The colorful 16-page page guide can either be downloaded as a pdf file or ordered from the FTC as a brochure. It lists many examples of hilarious diet ads and claims. Muris stated that the FTC has been meeting with media to discuss fraudulent diet ads. He said that as a result the Newspaper Association of America, National Association of Broadcasters, the Magazine Publishers Association and others make the guide available to their members. Magazine Publishers Assoc also makes it available.

Muris said that they are already seeing a smaller percentage of weight loss ads making those false claims and that the FTC commissioned review of weight loss ads in 2004 to see if there is improvement. The FTC plans strong enforcement. In conclusion, he said, the new Red Flag Guide, the agency report, and law enforcement action are all critical components to stop weight loss fraud.

Question: What effort did FTC made regarding lawsuits?

Answer: The FTC aims for voluntary compliance and there are no decisions on lawsuits. The worst problem is informercials. He personally met with many media associations, and individually with CEOs of major media. He believes that media genuinely does not want to run fraudulent ads. In addition, many of those ads also cause a lot of unpaid bills, one as high as $10 million. There are plenty of unpaid bills.

Question: Does the FTC work with the US Postal Service on fraud cases?

Answer: The FDA is the most important player here. Over a billion dollars worth of fraudulent advertising has been stopped.

Question: Are those ads mainly in tabloids?

Answer: The disturbting fact is that they were in many womens' magazines and many reputable magazines. The migration to respectable media is why the FTC makes such a big deal of it. Now they are seeing a dramatic reduction.

Question: Will the FTC issue media guidance on other types of ads?

Answer: These diet ads struck the FTC as unique. Science is clear, and fraud is equally clear. Networks generally do elaborate media screening, but magazines do much less.

Question: What investigations and law suits are underway?

Answer: A number of investigations underway. They went after the weight loss belt people and they shut down. The FTC also sued Steve Garvey, a celebrity supporter. FTC called for self-regulatory action as well.

Question: What about the weight loss claims in some fast food ads, such as KFC’s?

Answer: At this time the FTC is mainly concerned with the "miracle pill" ads. Those are not legitimate businesses. Also, the FTC has no authority to ban products, only fraudlent claims.

Question: How dos the FTC measure success? How is success defined? If voluntary does not work, then what? Rule out voluntary compliance?

Answer: The FTC continues to bring cases. One measure of success is comparing surveys on ads in magazines.

I should also mention that NAAFA was, in some way involved in this. Several years ago the FTC approached NAAFA and asked us to send them examples of fraudulent diet ads and scams. Many of our members sent in such ads and we passed them on. It took a while, but this is another example of how NAAFA can help shaping policy an making a difference.

Conrad H. Blickenstorfer