NAD refers Hollywood Health and Beauty to FTC
This article was originally published in The Tan Sheet
Executive Summary
The Council of Better Business Bureaus' National Advertising Division refers advertising for the weight-loss supplement Trimball-EXP200 to the Federal Trade Commission and FDA after marketer Hollywood Health and Beauty failed to respond to the industry self-regulation group's request for substantiation. NAD asked Hollywood Health and Beauty to support claims that Trimball-EXP200 "triggers automatic weight loss" and allows users to eat as much as they want and still lose weight. Testimonials that users lost "exactly 33 pounds without any effort" and "48 pounds in 7 weeks" also raised red flags. Under FTC's recently tightened guidelines for weight-loss testimonials, it is no longer sufficient to include a disclaimer that weight-loss results are not typical. Firms should disclose typical results, FTC says (1"The Tan Sheet" Oct. 12, 2009)