There May Be A Big Shake Up In The Hoodia Weight Loss Industry
The FTC announced On January 4, 2007 that they settled for $25 million with four companies that were engaging in deceptive marketing tactics in the weight loss industry. Of the four companies, the one that garnered the most attention, particularly for hoodia sellers, is TrimSpa. Their product contains hoodia gordonii and they made it a point to market and advertise that their products are effective because of the hoodia gordonii.
The FTC charged that their ads were deceptive and misleading. Consumers were led to believe that they could experience dramatic appetite suppression and weight loss because of the hoodia gordonii that is in the TrimSpa product. TrimSpa’s share of the $25 million settlement was only $1.5 million. In the scheme of things, they got off light but this could be just the beginning of many lawsuits and settlements to come.
The FTC is actively investigating the hoodia industry, and are specifically concerned with two issues: (1) the authenticity of the hoodia gordonii used in products, and (2) the substantiation of claims made by companies that sell and promote hoodia supplements.
appetite suppressant or a weight loss product.
Even “testimonials” are viewed by the FTC as “hear say.” This insider emphasized that the FTC is not trying to remove hoodia as a product, but rather the claims and/or inference that hoodia gordonii is associated with weight loss.
What this means is there could be a dramatic change in the landscape of the hoodia industry. Almost every company that sells hoodia supplements exaggerates to some extent of what hoodia gordonii can do. And as I’ve said numerous times on this website and in articles I’ve published, most of the hoodia diet pills on the market contain very little, if any, hoodia gordonii.
If the FTC is serious about cracking down on these companies, then there will be very few companies that will go unaffected - unless of course they heed the warning of this insider and learn from the TrimSpa case.
The FTC’s crackdown on the hoodia industry is great news to consumers. Right now the industry is a mess and consumers are fed a bunch of B.S. and are left to figure out which companies are offering real hoodia gordonii - which is no easy task.
Desert Burn is the only company that doesn’t exaggerate what their products can do for weight loss (they even go as far as saying their product may not work) and they have their products randomly tested on a regular basis by an independent lab to verify that what they’re offering is real hoodia gordonii. They are one company that should go completely untouched by the FTC. In fact, the FTC may hold them up as the “gold standard” for what hoodia companies should strive to do.
Either way, it should be an interesting year for hoodia companies and dieters alike. The hoodia industry may look dramatically different a year from now. It will be interesting to see which companies are vindicated and which ones are shown to be the frauds that they are.
