New FTC rule will abolish "results not typical" models from weight-loss ads.

[Occam Bandage]

Subway spokesman and occasional thin guy Jared Fogle may soon be out of work thanks to a new FTC rule banning commercial testimonials that warn "results not typical" or "individual results may vary." Under the new rule, marketers using, say, body builders to advertise weight loss pills are also going to have to show an average lardass whose results might be more typical. You can guess how advertisers are reacting to the change...

The revisions have drawn sharp criticism from product manufacturers, advertising agencies and trade groups who say it is the "aspirational" theme of their ads that motivates consumers to purchase their goods. Show less than the ultimate achievement, they say, and consumers are less likely to buy.

Translation: Easily deceived consumers won't buy useless products if they knew they were useless.
http://consumerist.com/5179090/ftc-to-require-advertisers-using-testimonials-to-show-typical-results/
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tc-biz-fri-pitches-ftc-0320-mar20,0,7694262.story?track=rss

Why does the Obama administration want to put hard-working Americans like Jared out of a job?

[Political Tiger]

1. Good! All those weight loss products are a scam

Especially those manufactures who advertise some wonder pill that will make you shred 100 pounds in a month....if such a pill really worked, they wouldn't even have to advertise it....people would be standing in line to buy it!

[AlCzervik]

2. i wonder if that change will also apply to things like Bowflex and other exercise equipment.

i bet ad agencies will figure out different wording to get around the change.

[Occam Bandage]

3. It seems like simply getting rid of the "before" picture would fix it.

[dysfunctional press]

4. the usual trick is to get an athlete or trainer who had a baby or broke a bone or something...

and as a result has added some extra poundage- that's the 'before' picture.

once they have taken a few weeks to get back to what is "normal" for them, they can pose for the 'after' picture.

it's a LOT easier and quicker for a toned person to lose temporary weight gain than for a perpetually out-of-shape person to lose the weight AND tone up their base.

[Hello_Kitty]

6. The NutriSystem ad featuring Jillian Barberie is SO fucking obvious

She is CLEARLY pregnant in the before picture.

[originalpckelly]

11. Well, a diet that's constructed properly can cause weightloss in part...

but there should be a scientific study to determine whether or not the techniques used to produce a lower calorie food are safe.

[ihavenobias]

7. Very true. That plus air brushing, etc. n/t

[ddeclue]

5. THANK YOU Barack and FTC!

Truth in advertising?

:shrug:

I don't understand...

:shrug:

:bounce:

Good job now go after the get rich quick ads and the get out of debt ads running on TV, radio and the internet FTC!

:bounce:

[rainbow4321]

8. Those Rosetta Stone commercials need to be next

The ones where the people are saying how they learned a new language just like that...and "I can speak a new language thanks to this program"...mind you, they never actually SPEAK that language during the commerical. Actually, I don't even think of them SAY what language it is that each of them can suddenly speak so well. I'm not trying to say anything bad about the study program, they just have really lame commericals. At least fake it...go hire some bilingual commercial actors and have them toss in a sentence or two in their native language.

[originalpckelly]

12. It might be realistic, I can imagine a program on a computer doing something like that.

After all, flashcards are good at producing conditioned reactions, rather than an understanding that requires thought.

They should, however, have to do a study to make those claims, and it should be peer-reviewed and duplicated.

[depakid]

13. The one that cracks me up is extenz

guaranteed to make men "larger."

They must be seeling the stuff- because those ads are on TV all night in the states.

[Oak2004]

20. It probably works

because it is undoubtedly a yohimbe-based product, with a few essentially useless vitamins and minerals and inert herbs and the like thrown in to make it a "unique" formulation. That's more or less the formulation for these kinds of "natural" products..

The active ingredient in yohimbe bark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yohimbe

has been one of the older prescription treatments for erectile dysfunction. The "catch" is that yohimbe bark is not a particularly safe herb. MAO inhibitor + vasodilator + inconsistent dosages in the bark + narrow range between effective dose and dangerous + sold over the counter to people who don't realize that "natural" means you have to do your own homework concerning drug safety and effectiveness because no one is checking for you = one easily available herb that just plain creeps me out, big time.

I'm not the right gender to require such products, but if I did, I'd go with Viagra over yohimbe bark. And I say this as someone very well versed in what herbs do, who is not averse to using herbs myself when warranted.

[JI7]

21. i have heard mostly positive things about Rosetta Stone

from regular people who have used it. of course they didn't claim it helped them suddenly become fluent or anything. but they did say it's a good program for those interesting in learning another language.

[dysfunctional press]

9. kind of off-topic- but there's a bankruptcy lawyer in chicago whose commercials really irritate me..

peter francis geraci-

he starts off about the big bad credit card companies and says something like "their latest trick? doubling the minimum payment..."

the irritating part is that it wasn't a "trick" by the credit card companies- it was because of legislation passed in congress that's actually meant to HELP consumers by keeping them from being trapped on an endless cycle of "minimum payments" that don't even cover accruing interest on their account.

[originalpckelly]

10. EXCELLENT! This makes me so happy in so many ways!

:rofl:

These motherfuckers are such liars! Go after all these fraudsters! Next they need to go after over the counter "medical treatments" that do not have scientific studies to determine their effectiveness or safety. Anything that's not a vitamin shouldn't be able to advertise itself as a medical treatment unless it has proved results to back it up. That's why all those bullshit "cures" stopped, in part, because of regulators.

[flvegan]

14. So car ads touting MPG, medical procedure ads and ads for Weight Watchers are next, right?

I mean, it's only fair...

[Lex]

15. Now if they can figure out how to stop Fox News from advertising "Fair & Balanced"

or "News" for that matter.

[spanone]

16. does that mean i won't look like chuck norris????

:shrug:

[Aristus]

17. Well, at least Vince is telling the truth: the Germans DO make good stuff!

B-)

[jmm]

18. What next? Snuggie commercials will have to stop

pretending people love wearing it in dorms and at sporting events? The dude from the free credit report commercials will have to actually serve fish to tourists in t-shirt?

The possibilities...:D

[1]

19. this is just wrong. next they will stop the fast food places from showing...

what their sandwiches actually look like. flat dried out crap with wilted lettuce as opposed to those beautiful, stuffed, fresh looking sandwiches in the ads.

what's next? actual pictures of people (not from 10 years ago) in the personals?

my god! where does this all end?!?!?!

:rofl: