Recently the Federal Trade Commission announced that it was taking legal action against businesses that operate deceptive supplement web sites, specifically sites that selling Acai Berry based products.
What does this have to do with Rosacea?
A fair question. As the internet has become a more and more popular source for health related information, the trustworthiness of web sites has become more and more important.
Anyone can pick and choose a handful of supplements, print pretty labels and create a web site to flog them off.
Without a body to police sham marketing claims, web site owners are free to say what they like.
Claims about a supplement’s efficacy and safety can go unchallenged and unproven. In the worst of cases, internet seekers are left at the mercy of supplement makers that are solely interested in making money out of sufferers’ misery.
It is the task of the Federal Trade Commission to ensure that businesses operate ethically, including on the internet. It is encouraging to see that the FTC is willing to act against unscrupulous web sites.
Be on the lookout for supplement sites that make grandiose claims and have suspicious testimonials.
Internet Marketers Falsely Claim Endorsement from ABC, Fox News, CBS, CNN, USA Today, and Consumer Reports, FTC Alleges.
The Federal Trade Commission is requesting federal courts to temporarily halt the allegedly deceptive tactics of 10 operations using fake news websites to market acai berry weight-loss products. The FTC seeks to permanently stop this misleading practice and has asked courts to freeze the operations’ assets pending trial.
According to the FTC, the defendants operate websites that are meant to appear as if they belong to legitimate news-gathering organizations, but in reality the sites are simply advertisements aimed at deceptively enticing consumers to buy the featured acai berry weight-loss products from other merchants
“Almost everything about these sites is fake,” said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “The weight loss results, the so-called investigations, the reporters, the consumer testimonials, and the attempt to portray an objective, journalistic endeavor.”
