The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday cracked down on four companies involved in deceptive marketing of weight loss products, saying they made baseless claims to their consumers.
The four companies -- Sensa Products, L’Occitane, HCG Diet Direct and LeanSpa -- agreed to settle and will pay $34 million for consumer redress. In settling the case the companies have neither admitted nor denied fault.
The marketers of Sensa will pay $26.5 million to the Federal Trade Commission for telling customers to “sprinkle, eat, and lose weight” misleading them to believe the product would curb their appetite and make them lose weight. The FTC plans to use the money for customer refunds.
L'Occitane made unfounded claims that a cream would slim users' bodies, and will pay $450,000. LeanSpa promoted acai berry and “colon cleanse” weight-loss supplements, and will have to pay $7.3 million. HCG Diet Direct promoted the use of a human hormone long touted as a weight-loss treatment without any science to back the claim, and will pay $3.2 million.
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“Resolutions to lose weight are easy to make but hard to keep,” Jessica Rich, the director of the commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. “And the chances of being successful just by sprinkling something on your food, rubbing cream on your thighs or using a supplement are slim to none. The science just isn’t there.”
This case is part of a larger crackdown but he commission on companies that “peddle fad weight-loss products.” The commission is also proposing new guidelines for the media to help them catch the promotion of such fake products and urge them not to accept advertisements from such companies.
[FTC]
