Full page ad, highly-circulated national magazine; claim: "I lost 197 lbs on the . . . diet"; millions of $$$ spent, thousands fail to lose weight, millions of $$$ wasted; more frustration, more depression; 150 million Americans and the diet fraud industry just keep getting fatter.
That's right: according to stats there are over 150 million fat people in the USA, and that's one big fat, rich target herd for diet criminals. Every year this 150-million strong herd of fatties spend billions for junk fads, the worse part being that every year countless victims are seriously injured and some wind up six feet under.
Okay. You're overweight, you're depressed, maybe your health is suffering, and that makes you a target; so what can you do to protect yourself from diet fraud? For one thing you can try really hard not to be so damned gullible! Listen. There are some really good diet plans on the market, but usually these are pushed out the back door by the glitzy commercialism of fad diets. That's fine; all we need do is go out the back door and take a look at what's there—it could just be that the mean & lean diet plan is there waiting for you to pick it up!
To make our point about gullibility, we are going to focus on a scammer that once was riding high in the world of diet fads. It was something called The Enforma System, promoted by something called Enforma Natural Products, whose owners made some really great sounding claims: "With Enforma, you can eat what you want and never, ever, ever have to diet again." With the Enforma System "you can enjoy all these delicious foods like fried chicken, pizza, cheeseburgers, even butter and sour cream, and stop worrying about the weight." Fat Trapper "permanently" blocks fat "so that it can never be absorbed by your body—never." "Exercise In A Bottle works on a cellular level, forcing every cell in your body to work, whether you're exercising or not."
Now do tell: what food junky could resist a sales pitch like that—and especially since it was being pitched by former baseball star and paid spokesman Steve Garvey in glitzy 30 minute infomercials? Even better, Steve was joined by a nutritional expert in these glitzy spots to assure the audience that the "all natural" product was as safe as it was effective!
The problem with the Enforma System is that its promoters made phony claims, just like its infomercial's "nutritionist" who turned out to be a paid professional actress.
With millions of $$$ in its pockets Enforma Natural Products was riding high until the Federal Trade Commission stepped in and sued for deceptive advertising! (Can't anybody spell consumer fraud anymore?) Caught red-handed, The Enforma System crappola cost the Enforma Natural Products $10 million bucks to settle with the Federal Trade Commission.
Whew! The good ole' FTC came to the rescue, except that when a scammer has tasted the rich waters of telemarketing, they just can't seem to resist coming back for another sip. Immediately after their 2000 settlement with the FTC, the company continued selling their crap through other media, which prompted the Federal Trade Commission to begin legal proceedings a second time. In January 2002 the FTC asked a federal court to intervene against Enforma Natural Products, noting that while the company had stopped the infomercials, it had not ceased advertising in other media. (See the complete story here.)
It's the old marketplace story of good vs bad; truth vs deception. The good news is that there are some really top of the line weight loss plans out there—and we don't mean magic pills—just waiting to make a difference in your life!
