Newsflash: News Sites Endorsing Diet Products May be Fake

Move over before-and-after shots.  Advertisers are now creating what appear to be legitimate news sites to shill bogus diet products.  Claiming that weight loss supplements (A magical fruit that is advertised as the natural cure-all for any possible ailment; usually found in ads featuring beautiful, exotic women., for example) have been proven to work by “objective investigative reports,” scam artists are banking on our trust in news organizations.

Example 1:

It doesn’t hurt that the “reporter” featured in the ad is beautiful and thin AND claims to have lost 25 pounds herself!

Example 2:

In April 2011, the FTC called out 10 fake news site operators for this misleading practice.  “Almost everything about these sites is fake,” said David Vladeck, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.  “The weight loss results, the so-called investigations, the reporters, the consumer testimonials, and the attempt to portray an objective, journalistic endeavor.”