Weight Loss Product Scams

It seems that every time you open up a magazine or newspaper, or turn on a TV or radio, there's another ad for a miracle weight loss product promising effortless weight loss. And most of them promise that their product makes it possible to lose weight while you eat all your favorite foods and without having to exercise. ("There now exists an all natural, bio-active weight loss product so powerful, so effective, so relentless in its awesome attack on bulging fatty deposits that it has virtually eliminated the need to diet.") They make healthy pursuits like balanced nutrition and an active lifestyle dirty words. And they hint that all you need to do to look like the bikini- clad model in the picture is to send away for a bottle of "miracle" weight loss pills.



Each year from January through May, many people start to think about how they'll lose weight before they try on their bathing suits and tank tops. This is the when companies advertise their weight loss products and programs to appeal to peoples' desire to look svelte and shapely for the summer months. Many companies advertise their products and services responsibly, but others promise effortless weight loss from "miracle" weight loss pills or gadgets. They inundate the media with ads full of hype and empty promises. It's enough to make you sick.



There are no weight loss product miracles. Sensible weight loss and healthy weight management generally require eating less and exercising more. Any advertisement for a weight loss product or service that says you don't have to change your eating habits or increase your physical activity level to lose weight is selling false hope.



Many advertisements for weight loss products and services are scientifically groundless. Yet mainstream newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and broadcast and cable TV outlets run ads for weight loss products that routinely promise the impossible. And many people believe the ads because they appear in the media they trust.



To call attention to the media's responsibility to screen ads for weight loss products and services that promise far more than they can scientifically deliver, the Partnership for Healthy Weight Management is inaugurating Ad Nauseam, a new campaign.


Every year, the Partnership for Healthy Weight Management will publish a list of claims made in ads during the previous year for products or services that promise results so extravagant, any responsible media outlet should have demanded proof before accepting them for publication.


Media outlets that published or broadcast the ads will be identified.

Media indicating they have adopted strategies to screen out dubious ad claims for weight loss products also will be identified.

In publishing its list, the Partnership is challenging the media to demonstrate their ability to exercise reasonable screening measures before accepting ads for publication.