Enforma Weight Loss Ads Thrown Second Strike By FTC
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
The Federal Trade Commission has expanded its allegations against the marketers of "The Enforma System" to include former baseball player Steve Garvey and others for their role in promoting the weight loss products.
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The Federal Trade Commission has expanded its allegations against the marketers of "The Enforma System" to include former baseball player Steve Garvey and others for their role in promoting the weight loss products. Spokesperson Garvey, Garvey Management Group, co-host Lark Kendall, infomercial producer Modern Interactive Technology and its principles Mark Levine and David Richmond are charged by FTC with playing instrumental parts in developing deceptive claims for Fat Trapper - with chitosan and psyllium husk - and Exercise In A Bottle - containing pyruvate, ginkgo biloba, chromium picolinate and garcinia cambogia. Enforma Natural Products, manufacturer of the supplements, settled related charges with FTC in April, agreeing to change its marketing strategy and pay $10 mil. in redress (1 (Also see "Enforma To Cease Deceptive Weight Loss Claims, Pay $10 Mil. -FTC" - Pink Sheet, 1 May, 2000.)). Fat Trapper was claimed to prevent the absorption of fat while its companion product was purported to burn calories without exercise. The follow-up complaint was filed in Los Angeles district court Aug. 31, as was a stipulated final order and settlement with Kendall, a former model who was billed as Kendall Carson, a nutritionist, on two infomercials. Kendall admits no wrongdoing in the settlement. In addition to being enjoined from repeating the disputed claims, making unsubstantiated claims on any weight loss products or misrepresenting her credentials, Kendall must turn over her earnings from the second infomercial in which she appeared. Kendall also agrees to testify in any court action resulting from the complaint. Modern Interactive Technology, Levine and Richmond are charged because they "created, wrote, edited and produced" the infomercials. The FTC complaint also lists numerous quotes from Garvey, Kendall and an unnamed voice-over announcer attesting to the efficacy of the Enforma products. The defendants are accused of making claims about the products even though they "did not possess and rely upon a reasonable basis that substantiated the representations" in the infomercial. "Therefore, the making of the representations...was, and is, a deceptive act or practice and constitutes false and misleading advertising," FTC states. |