FTC offers restitution to supplement ad victims

0

FTC / Federal Trade CommissionFive manufacturers of dietary supplements went too far in their advertising claims, according to the FTC, and are ready to pay consumers who took the bait and bought products to lose weight or deal with colds and the flu.


Accelis, nanoSLIM, Cold MD, Germ MD, or Allergy MD are the companies, and between them they are prepared to pay a total of $5.5M to consumers who bought their products on the basis of false or misleading advertising.

The FTC wrote, “As part of its ongoing efforts to stop bogus health claims, in 2010, the FTC charged Iovate Health Sciences U.S.A. and two affiliated Canadian companies with deceptively advertising that the supplements named above could help consumers lose weight or could treat and prevent colds, flu, and allergies.”

Consumers who bought products between January 2006 and July 2010 and did not participate in a California class action suit have until 4/1/13 to submit a claim.

The FCC advised, “Consumers should carefully evaluate advertising claims for vitamins and other dietary supplements.  For more information see:  Dietary Supplements and Weighing the Claims in Diet Ads.”

RBR-TVBR observation: We sometimes wonder how consumers find out about these FTC actions. We habitually visit the FTC website as a course of doing our job, but we cannot imagine it’s a common destination for the average citizen.