Griffin Johnston, 4th period, Dietary Pill False Advertising

            Maggie Fox, writing for NBC News, reports on the multitude of fallacies and false claims made by dietary/weight loss pill manufacturers that are rampant across the Internet. The article states that the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug administration have been in the process of catching these companies and corporations of false advertising the effectiveness of various dietary pills or “body slimming creams.” The FTC states that no cream can make a person lose weight, and it warns consumers about common false advertising for dietary helpers such as, “lose weight without exercise,” “just take a pill,” “lose weight no matter how much you eat of your favorite foods.” The FTC is charging these companies who are selling these products and then using the money gained to pay back the consumers who fell into the trap of buying them. They are also requesting that news outlets refrain from having these adds on their newspapers, websites, etc. The FTC is also requiring that companies have adequate and credible proof that these pills work and are safe by having them tested.

            As the article stated, “Americans are desperate to lose weight,” meaning the demand for weight loss techniques are prodigious. As always, the market seeks to quench this demand, seeing the great possibility for revenue (the article stated that one company had made $364 million dollars off of the sale of its weight loss products). However, there is also a widely demanded aspect that comes with these weight loss products. People want something that is fast and easy; they want something that yields immediate results. The large majority of the people do not want to have to work hard to “lose weight.” There also seems to be a disregard for the healthiness of losing weight. Health seems to flounder in the backwash of quickness and inexpensiveness. This one intricacy to the widespread demand for a weight loss technique (i.e. pills, diet plans, etc.) has enabled numerous companies to take advantage of the consumer. In reality, dietary pills certainly are needed or helpful for various people. However, as the article stated, the taking of these pills must be accompanied by a balanced diet and adequate amounts of exercise. Lastly, if one were to eliminate the mindset of “lose weight” and replace it with “eat and live healthy,” everything would work itself out in the end.