Oprah Versus The Supplement Scammers
August 25, 2009 by JD
Filed under News, Supplement News, Supplement Scams
I knew this would come at some point.
We’ve talked about all the fake celebrity supplement endorsements that are being splashed across the Internet and in popular magazines and newspapers. And because a recommendation from Oprah is second to only a blessing from the Pope, it’s no surprise that her face is attached to all kinds of miracle supplements including acai and resveratrol pills and juices. I believe it all stemmed from an episode of her show where she and her resident “health expert” Dr. Oz touted the benefits of acai.
Supplement makers saw that, put their scheming heads together, and came to the conclusion that:
“Hey, if she likes acai, then she must love resveratrol! And if she likes them in their natural form, she must love the convenience of having them processed and crammed into pills, powders, and potions. And hey, didn’t she lose alot of weight recently - again? It must have been the acai!”
Guess Oprah has tired of seeing these supplement makers bless their products with her smiling face and newly toned body. She and Dr. Oz have teamed up and dropped lawsuits on 40 different supplement companies. Well, 40 different company names, anyway. Truth is, many of these “free sample” supplement scams are run by multiple shell companies that roll up into one large holding company. One that is usually located in the corporate meccas of Vietnam, Granada, or some other hard to reach business haven.
On her website, Oprah Winfrey has laid out her law: “Consumers should be aware that neither Oprah Winfrey nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any açaí berry product, company or online solicitation of such products, including MonaVie juice products…Neither Oprah nor Dr. Oz are associated with nor do they endorse any specific resveratrol product, company or online solicitation of such products. Any companies that misrepresent their affiliation are making false claims.”
“We know that thousands of people have been misled by these marketing practices,” said Marc Rachman, the attorney for Oz and Winfrey and companies that manage their images and trademarks, on Friday. “Oprah.com has received e-mail in the thousands from people who believe Oprah and Dr. Oz are affiliated with these products and have endorsed them when they haven’t.”
It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out. But as most of us know, whether it’s a photo, an advertisement, or an email, once it’s out there on the Internet, it’s pretty much there forever. So, I would expect to see some of these companies just disappear, leaving a trail of acai, resveratrol, and colon cleansing ads with Oprah’s smiling face scattered across the World Wide Web.
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