The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced on January 4, 2007 that they will recover $25 million to settle allegations of deceptive marketing tactics for some products in the weight loss industry, Hoodia TrimSpa being one of them.
The FTC has filed complaints in four separate cases alleging that weight-loss and weight-control claims were not supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence.
The TrimSpa contains hoodia gordonii and they emphasized marketing and advertising campaigns, saying TrimSpa is effective because of the hoodia gordonii content.
The FTC charged that ads were misleading consumers, becaus they were led to believe that they could experience dramatic appetite suppression and weight loss because of the hoodia gordonii that is in the TrimSpa product.
The marketers of TrimSpa will pay $1.5 million to settle FTC allegations that their weight-loss claims were unsubstantiated. According to the FTC’s complaint, the marketers had inadequate scientific evidence to support their advertising claims that TrimSpa causes rapid and substantial weight loss and that one of its ingredients, Hoodia gordonii, enables users to lose substantial amounts of weight by suppressing appetite.
For the hoodia industry, this situation could means the beginning of other lawsuits or settlements to come.
Many ads for “TrimSpa Completely Ephedra Free Formula X32” featured testimonials. The most known ad, showed Playboy celebrity Anna Nicole Smith (who died recently) claimed to have lost 69 pounds in eight months by using TrimSpa. Other advertising claims included “Your high speed dream body diet pill” and “It makes losing 30, 50, even 70 pounds (or however many pounds you need to lose) painless.”
TrimSpa ads appeared on television, in magazines, on radio, and in local newspapers. TrimSpa was also promoted on a Web site, at some NASCAR events, and other live events.
Actually, the FTC is investigating the hoodia business, because the agency is concerned with two issues:
* the authenticity of the hoodia gordonii used in products, because there are some evidence of hoodia faked products or hoodia products which doesn´t contain hoodia gordonii at all
* the substantiation of claims made by companies that sell and promote hoodia supplements.
According to some analysts, the FTC believes that there is not scientific or substantiated proof that hoodia gordonii is an
appetite suppressant or a weight loss product.
The FTC is not trying to remove hoodia as a product, but the claims that hoodia gordonii is a weight loss product.
The FTC’s decission on the TrimSpa case and the hoodia business is good news to consumers. Today, the consumers have great confussion to understand and know which product has real hoodia. Even when we suggest different ways to know such information, it is no easy task.
But at least, you may read carefully our suggestions before to buy hoodia, to know if you are to receive true and real hoodia pills.
Do you want to buy pure and real Hoodia Gordonii diet pills in USA?