National Consumers League statement on FTC crackdown on deceptive weight-loss advertising – National Consumers League

January 8, 2014

Contact: NCL Communications, Ben Klein, (202) 835-3323, benk@nclnet.org

Washington, DC – The National Consumers League, the nation’s pioneering consumer and worker advocacy organization, today applauded the Federal Trade Commission’s crackdown on four deceptive marketers of weight-loss products. The companies – Sensa Products, LLC, L’Occitane, Inc., HCG Diet Direct and LeanSpa, LLC – are charged with duping consumers into buying fraudulent weight-loss products. The League also called on broadcasters and publishers to do more to root out deceptive advertising in their pages and on the airwaves.

The following statement is attributable to Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director:

“As the new year kicks off, many consumers will be trying to stick to their resolutions to lose weight. Unfortunately, consumers are constantly bombarded by advertising claiming that a cream or shake will magically help them shed unwanted pounds with little effort. The truth is that many of these products fail to produce the results they claim. Just as insidiously, deceptive advertising undermines confidence in all advertising, hurting legitimate businesses as well as consumers. To protect the public interest and their business models, we therefore urge broadcasters and publishers to closely monitor the ads they accept and screen out deceptive advertisers.”

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About the National Consumers League

The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America’s pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit https://nclnet.org.