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Unethical marketing of weight-loss products

By

Pitcha Sakmangkorn

IMC 452: Ethics and Society

Professor Alecia C. Dantico

December 08, 2014

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Weight-loss products refer to any products that lead to decrease in weight,

including pills, supplement, beverages, diet programs, or medications (Saper, R.,

Eisenberg, D., & Phillips, R. 2004). Society is being bombarded by weight-loss

product advertising schemes. Weight-loss product companies are targeting to women:

those who are at the age of 15-40, especially teenagers who have little experience on

the possible dangerous outcome of these kinds of products so that they are easily

drawn to deceiving advertisement by the manufactures. The history does not lie.

Victims’ suffering does not lie. There were many cases happen that forms the history

of it.

Speaking of health status and diet among Americans, According to “2011

Food & Health Survey” conducted by International Food Information Council

Foundation, it states Americans’ perception towards their bodies. The key points on

the basis to be evaluated are as follows.

• A majority of Americans see themselves as overweight or obese and

concerned with their weight status.

• 62% of respondents are in the obese and overweight ranges.

• Obese Americans are the most likely to be extremely concerned with their

current weight status.

• 77% of Americans are trying to lose weight or avoid gaining weight.

• A greater percentage of those who trying to lose weight address multiple

barriers to staying on track. They do not see results quickly.

• Americans see improvement in physical appearance as the primary motivator

to lose/maintain weight most often (2011 Food & Health Survey).

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the US Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) are cracking down on companies that falsely advertise and

market on their weight-loss products saying that they provide unsubstantiated claims

about their products promote weight-loss when used them with an extremely low-

calorie diet (around 500 calories a day) (Kuehn, B. M. 2012). The FTC has charged

four companies which are Sensa Inc., LeanSpa LLC., L’Occitane, and HCG Diet

Direct because of their deceptive weight-loss product advertising (CNN, 2014).

Those companies intended to give false claims to consumers that their

products can help them lose weights. Sensa Inc., the company that sold one of weight-

loss products, made unsubstantiated claim that by pouring Sensa granules onto the

food, the dieters will lose an average of 30 pounds in six months without dieting or

working out. "Simply sprinkle Sensa on, eat all the foods you love and watch the

pounds come off," one commercial promised. "It's that easy" (ABCNews, 2014).

Sensa granules contain the ingredients of maltodextrin, tricalcium phosphate and

silica, as well as natural and artificial flavors (CNN, 2014). The fact behind this

“seem to be magical” product is the granules will enhance the smell and the taste of

food. That heightened smell stimulates the hormones that have the ability to suppress

appetite to come out and to reduce hunger. Consequently the dieters will eat less and

lose weights. This is actually the way to trick your brain to feel full so that you do not

want to eat more. According to court documents, the product sold through

TrySensa.com and on television shopping networks costs $59 monthly excluding

shipping fee. The company made profit from the product of almost $364 million

between 2008 and 2012 in the United States (CNN, 2014). Still, there are so little

research or scientific proof conducted to support the products claims. According to

nytimes.com, this claim tends to be unreliable since the sight, smell, and taste of food

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leads to insulin releasing and metabolism increasing that are considered a sensory

system saturation and those effects are short-lived. You would not be able to smell the

same old scent after you constantly smell it. The victims of the story exist. Mikaela,

one of the product users, said that she failed using Sensa’s product for her weight loss.

“I have tried it and it didn’t work – it didn’t make me feel full and decided against

continuing it. I called the company and told them to cancel my subscription, but they

went ahead and billed me for $89.95...This is a hoax!,” she said in www.real -

customer-comments.com on April 03, 2009 (The New York Times, 2009).

The ethical issue of this matter is that the audience perceives only the claims

that the product will help them lose weight without revealing that the process to get

that is by ‘their brains are being tricked’ and without the warning of the effect that

doing this may not last long and may not successful in long term and even may harm

their health. This comes to a question that if the audience knows all this, would they

still purchase the product? Plus, the product did not not help people lose weight

naturally as it should be. Just pouring something onto your food, and then you lose

weight seems to be impossible, especially when the company has no scientific

evidence for it. It is unethical that the company took an advantage from girls and

women who were in sensitive condition regarding their body concernment and were

having a hard time being on diet.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, LeanSpa LLC., the company

that sold “Acai berry” and “Colon Cleanse”, weight-loss supplements, used fake news

websites to promote their products, making deceptive weight-loss claims, and

convincing consumers to buy the products saying that they will receive “free trial”

products if they pay $79.99 as a nominal fee for shipping and handling. The

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consumers were ripped off by paying the company such overpriced amount of money.

"LeanSpa was an excellent company with first rank scientific advisors and an

excellent, clinically tested weight-loss product. It did not mislead consumers in its

product claims or billing practices, and was itself a victim of deceptive and fraudulent

conduct by its marketing partners” LeanSpa’s representative said (The Washington

Post, 2014). The FTC still shut down LeanSpa over allegedly intended delusive

promotions and later LeanSpa.com appeared to be down.

This again is unethical action of LeanSpa LLC. to do. Their intention to lie

consumers about rapid weight loss and promotions is selfish. To pretend that they

care about consumers’ good looking, while instead it is all about company’s profit is

unacceptable.

L’Occitane, the French brand, used company’s image of being expert in

beauty products launch new slimming products, “Almond Beautiful Shape and

Almond Shaping Delight skin creams through an advertising campaign in 2012. The

advertisement claimed that by applying the creams on bodies, consumers would

reduce cellulite and slim down. Specifically, the ads for Almond Beautiful Shape skin

cream said that the consumers could “trim 1.3 inches in just 4 weeks” and the ads for

Almond Shaping Delight skin cream said that the consumers would “visibly refine

and reshape the silhouette (CNN, 2014).”

It is doubtful in terms of ethical breach whether the consumers will be

slimmer only using the creams without controlling their eating behavior and exercise.

In this matter, it is more like L’Occitane was trying to expand their product line by

coming up with innovative slimming products besides their regular cosmetics

products. The reason of expanding the product line is nothing more than they wanted

to increase the sales as a whole. Competitions among beauty brands are high. The

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market is soaring until those companies are battling to make them more attractive and

reputable by flooding the market with high-priced products that come with classy

packages to directly offer to women. Thus, this is unethical for innocent consumers.

There are more brands related to slimming cream’s history of marketing.

According to the Guardian, in the past, the companies such as Clarins, Nivea, and

L’Oreal have sold and advertised their slimming lotions and potions and other anti-

cellulite treatments through TV commercial and magazines and promise to firm,

eliminate cellulite, and smooth your skin. Shiseido sold its Body Creator anti-cellulite

gel in 2002. The company that produced Guam Seaweed Mud advertised their

products that the consumers can use the products at home by wrapping yourself in

cling film and the consumers’ legs would look different in a good way just after one

time application. Decléor Paris (currently owned by L’oreal) claimed that their two

products, Aromessence Contour and Expert Contour help the users decrease fat of

21% within a month. While Dr. Victor Neel, of Massachusetts’s general hospital,

Boston stated that cellulite is a polite term of fat and fat should be eradicated by

exercising and consumers should not depend on these products (The Guardian, 2014).

None of the companies mentioned above provided claims with valid scientific

evidence.

In 2009, the FDA listed weight loss products that are outlaw including Herbal

Xenicol, Slimbionic and Xsvelten warning that typical ingredients of those weight-

loss products can cause high blood pressure, blurred vision, uncontrollable

movements, heart failure, and even sudden death. “These tainted weight-loss products

pose a great risk to public health because they contain undeclared ingredients and, in

some cases, contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed maximum

recommended dosages. Consumers have no way of knowing that these products

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contain dangerous drugs that could cause serious consequences to their health,” stated

Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research

(Kondro, W. 2009).

According to NBC NEWS, in April 2007, the FTC filed a lawsuit against the

marketers of four weight loss pills companies, which are Xenadrine EFX, One A Day

Weight Smart, CortiSlim and TrimSpa for making false advertising claims ranging

from quick fix weight loss to reducing the risk of cancer. One of the issues is

Xenadrine did a research by giving a placebo to people and it revealed that those who

took a placebo actually lose more weight than those taking their pills. “They not only

didn’t have studies to support the claim, they actually had a study that went the other

way,” FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras said. This is so obvious that the

company tried to lie and cover the true story from the public. Without the FTC’s

investigation, the deceptive secret would still remain.

Another interesting issue to be discussed is that some of the companies

marketed their claims by using infomercials or celebrities endorsements. TrimSpa

launched “TRIMSPA’s Million Dollar Makeover Challenge” campaign using Anna

Nicole Smith and her sexy appearance to promote the campaign in 2005. The

campaign aimed to promote and sell the product, as well as invite people to join the

contest. In the advertisement Anna says “Wanna step into my reality…Like my

body?” while doing her enticing gestures. The campaign was so successful with the

assistance of media coverage from Foxnews, Entertainment Tonight, WNBC, Larry

King, Extra TV, and so on. Also, the campaign was rolled out through print ads,

websites, radios, direct mails, etc (NBC NEWS, 2007).

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Using celebrities to endorse the consumers does not seem to be surprised news

for advertising world. The issue at play is the companies use celebrities to express

false claims by being testimonials. It is doubtful whether they really use the products

or it is just because the companies know that people admire the celebrities and want to

be like them. When seeing those tempting advertisement by those celebrities,

desperate ladies who dream for their slimmer shapes do not seem to care any of these

points as long as they have a chance to try the products and be slimmer.

The experts such as scientists and doctors also have big impact on purchasing

decision of consumers due to their credible functional titles. Dr. Oz show that presents

weight-loss products forum and advertising is one of the examples of this. Regarding

to CBS NEWS, Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Turkish-American cardiothoracic surgeon who is a

host for television show called Dr. Oz show which is famous nationally, promoted the

benefits of Green Coffee Bean Extract in the show that the product can help people

lose weight without diet or exercise. In 2012, the maker of the product sold half a

million bottles of the pills because of the help of Dr. Oz in Dr. Oz show. Later, the

truth was revealed that the study from the researchers (they were paid to write the

study promoted in the show) did not contain verified data and the FTC found that

participants’ weight measurement that was discussed by Dr. Oz in the show have

actually been altered. More products that were covered by Dr. Oz for example,

LeanSpa’s Acai Berry, Sensa’s Granule Crystal, and Raspberry Keytone, etc (CBS

NEWS, 2014). Mary Arling, one of the plaintiffs revealed that she did not lose a

single pound using Green Coffee Bean Extract and Raspberry Keytone advertised by

Dr. Oz and she even had a problem with her heart rate after using them (NBC12,

2014). More media outlets that seem to have cozy relationship with weight-loss

product companies like Sensa Inc. are “Oprah”, “Good Morning America”,

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“Dateline”, “the CBS Early Show”, and hundreds of magazines and newspaper

around the US (The New York Times, 2014).

These media outlets’ actions in this case do not seem ethical since they know

that the product has no scientific proof and can be harmful to consumers but they still

used flowery words to advertise the products. It is even unacceptable for Dr. Oz when

he said that he is aware that oftentimes the products are not supported by the scientific

evidence but he still holds it up because he personally believes in the items (NBC

NEWS, 2014). It is doubtful whether Dr. Oz really meant what he said or he just did

what he was paid to do.

Social media has a big stake in the story as well. According to Journal of

Medical Marketing that conducts a research on Facebook advertisements and

purchase of weight-loss products. It says that Social networks are connected with

changes in users’ health behavior and they influence consumers’ purchasing habits on

weight-loss products. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are increasingly

used as a platform for health care marketing by weight-loss products companies’

marketers and marketers are even likely to continue utilize social networks to

motivate consumer purchases. They use social media for electronic word-of-mouth

marketing and persuade users to buy their products. The study also demonstrates that

71% of women who use the Internet also use social media to evaluate products, make

product or brand recommendations, and to create product reviews for current and

future purchase through news feeds (Fogel, J., & Raghupathi, V. 2013).

The research from Human and Experimental Toxicology addresses a case of

the use of herbal weight-loss products that sold over the Internet. The study found that

herbal weight-loss products selling on the Internet have rapidly increased. However,

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the true safety of these products still remains doubtful since it is not well documented

yet. Also, it discovered that some of these products are toxicant and seriously harmful

to health (Ozdemir, B., Sahin, I., Kapucu, H., Celbis, O., Karakoc, Y., Erdogan, S., &

Onal, Y. 2013). Though the products claims may sound impressive, the results often

aren’t. It is often not safe, although the products are labeled “natural”. Many

supplements include dangerous ingredients that are not stated in labels (Weight-loss

drug review, 2012).

Other means of being on diet wrongly include ‘Atkins Diet”, a low

carbohydrate, high protein theory, that had been advertised through book publications

and websites. The way causes short-term effects like “Yo-Yo” and long-term effects

for health; the worst case is cancer (Nilsson, L. M., Winkvist, A., Johansson, I.,

Lindahl, B., Hallmans, G., Lenner, P., & Van Guelpen, B. 2013). Yo-Yo dieting or

“rhythm method of girth control” (called by the expert), is the kind of dieting that a

lot of people do, and it leads to not just in weight regained but also in additional

weight being put on. It also refers to the state when you gain weight after you fail

using diet pills or weight-loss products (Gaesse, G. 2002).

In general, the core ethical issue of this topic is that weight-loss product

companies deceived innocent people by using false and exaggerates claims. The

companies use the weakness of women as their selling points. It is selfish action of

those companies that they want to get money rather than concern consumers’ welfare.

They also create a perception of the body to girls that it is good for them to have

slimming shapes and to get that is by using a short-cut of taking weight-loss products

and ignoring the exercise. Consumers have a right to know the truth about what the

products actually do to them and can lead them to what. Thus, this is unethical and

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un-negotiated action of the companies.

The first stakeholder of the story is companies, makers, and manufacturers of

weight-loss products; those who intentionally produce the products that contain

ingredients that are jeopardize to consumers’ health. The names mentioned earlier are

Sensa Inc., LeanSpa LLC., L’Occitane, HCG Diet Direct, Clarins, Nivea, and

L’Oreal, Shiseido, Xenadrine EFX, One A Day Weight Smart, CortiSlim and

TrimSpa. The marketers of those companies are one of the stakeholders since they

intend to deceive consumers’ through the products’ claims. The media channels that

have a cozy relationship with the companies are one of the stakeholders. The media

should have acted more appropriate because they are primary storytellers for society

today. The stakeholder also includes celebrities who are used in the advertisement

whether they really use the products or not. Some of them are not really use the

products but they are paid to be models. The FTC and the FDA who are the regulators

are involved. Lastly, it is consumers who become victims of the story. These people

are the people who got impacted by the company the most. It is their lives that are at

stake and lives are not something that can be taken back.

Another interesting issue is that according to the FDA website, dietary

supplement manufactures do not need to get an approval from the the FDA before

producing or selling dietary supplements, they just only must register their facilities

with the FDA and make sure that all claims and information on the product label are

truthful and not misleading. Still, we can see from the history and the examples that

there are gaps for the company sneak in and do wrong still.

The situation can be redeemed by the government authorities like the FTC and

the FDA should have more stringent regulations to protect the weight-loss products

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companies and the media to act wrong; this can be harder punishment such as

increasing the fee. With the fee whatsoever, sometimes we cannot suppress those

companies to do wrong, so the best thing that we can do is to educate the public about

these kinds of products’ danger, so that it can more or less prevent bad things to

happen in the future. Also, the news and media content should be neutral and

seriously educate the public about the possible treats or ineffective results that can

come to people’s health if they use weight-loss products.

In conclusion, it is unethical for consumers in which they are deluded by the

weight-loss companies’ wrongdoing. The companies should be aware of not making

false claims otherwise it will harm only individuals but also a society as a whole.

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