Sep 22, 2002 2 min read

Fraud in the name of profit has been around as long as humans have existed. So, it’s no surprise that the Federal Trade Commission found that 55 percent of weight-loss ads make claims that are either false or misleading. Those guarantees of “your money back” if the product doesn’t work are found in the fine print. Yet, the truth is most people don’t bother to return ineffective products for a refund, and the suppliers of the diet pills and concoctions count on it to keep their bank accounts stuffed.

It’s always been a “buyer beware” market. The problem is that too many of us allow our desire to lose weight, grow hair or to remove wrinkles caused by natural aging to overcome the advice of our family doctors to not waste our money on such claims.

While many media companies refuse to accept advertising for patently outrageous claims, there are those devices or pills which offer limited relief to sufferers or seekers of a more perfect body. It becomes an impossible task of separating the half-truths from the distortions and the exaggerations under such circumstances. It remains for the viewer, the reader, and the buyer to use his or her own good judgment in this free market system we call capitalism.

Surgeon General Richard Carmona said it best when he announced the results of the FTC’s study of weight-loss pills: “There is no miracle pill that will lead to weight loss.” There are no shortcuts. The true path to good health is through healthful eating and adequate physical activity, he said.

These false and misleading campaigns are not limited to just weight-loss ads. There’s a wide variety of products and services on the market which require the potential buyer to use commonsense and good judgment before writing out a check. It’s a $35 billion business.

Whether it’s a hot stock market tip, a sure-thing at the race track, or a lotion which promises an instant facelift to make you look like a teen-ager again, the old warning still applies: “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.”