Marketers of Slim Coffee with Hoodia Charged with False Weight Loss Claims

The promoters of Slim Coffee with Hoodia join the dubious list of companies who have made exaggerated weight loss claims about their product and consequently have been charged by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). If you recall, in 2007 TrimSpa settled with the FTC for making false claims about their product, a popular diet supplement with hoodia. When the TrimSpa news broke I said to look for more companies to be charged by the FTC so this news comes as no surprise. I’m sure there will be even more in 2008.

In January 2008 the marketers of Slim Coffee with Hoodia agreed to settle FTC charges that their advertising falsely claimed that their product would result in significant weight loss without diet or exercise. During the past couple years that I have been following the hoodia industry, these weight loss claims were the most exaggerated I have ever seen.

The advertisements for Slim Coffee with Hoodia claimed that drinking Slim Coffee had been “clinically proven” to cause weight loss of “up to 5 pounds a week and up to 20 pounds a month.” The ads further claimed that, “There’s no need to change your eating habits or what you eat. Just replace your coffee with Slim Coffee and you will start to see results. It’s that easy and all-natural.”

The advertisements appeared in a number of places on the Internet, radio, and television including such channels as Oxygen, Fox Reality Channel, A&E Television, The CW, WE, and Bravo. Ads also have appeared in magazines and Sunday newspaper supplements, including SmartSource by News America Marketing FSI, Inc.

Wisely, the FTC stated in their complaint that the claims were false and unsupported by any reliable scientific studies and was in violation of the FTC Act. The complaint also alleged that Slim Coffee nor any of its ingredients, including hoodia, would not result in such significant weight loss without cutting calories or increasing physical activity.

Diet Coffee, Inc., the principals in the complaint, are prohibited from continuing to make those claims about their product. Furthermore, they are prohibited from representing that any product or service causes weight loss, causes users to lose any specified amount of weight, reduces or eliminates fat, reduces or curbs appetite, or increases metabolism, or making any other health-related benefit or efficacy representation unless it is true, not misleading, and substantiated by reliable scientific evidence.

In addition, they are prohibited from misrepresenting the existence, contents, validity, results, conclusions, or interpretations of any test or study concerning such products.

Slim Coffee with Hoodia will obviously need to be repositioned in the market. I don’t think Diet Coffee, Inc. will just let their product die. You’ll still find Sliim Coffee for sale, but look for more toned down claims. If they were smart, they would simply claim that their product “may” help with appetite suppression and as a result “may” aid in weight loss - period. If they claimed that, they would actually be telling the truth!

Source: ConsumerAffairs.com