TrimSpa’s future?

Executive Summary

Goen Technologies, subsidiary company TrimSpa Inc. and its recently deceased spokesperson, Anna Nicole Smith, were named in a class-action lawsuit alleging false and misleading marketing for the TrimSpa X32 weight-loss supplement. The suit was filed Feb. 5 in the California Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Plaintiffs are asking for unspecified damages, restitution and an injunction preventing TrimSpa from making future weight-loss claims. The class action suit quickly follows Goen Technologies' and related marketers' $1.5 mil. settlement with FTC over allegations of unsubstantiated weight-loss claims (1"The Tan Sheet" Jan. 8, 2007, p. 4). TrimSpa's recent legal trouble in conjunction with Smith's death does not bode well for the future of the brand, according to brand consultant Robert K. Passikoff, Ph.D. Not only does the combination of circumstances deliver "too big a hit" for TrimSpa to recover, but there may also be reverberations across the entire weight-loss supplement category, Passikoff said....