TINA.org’s Year in Review 2024

TINA.org pursued over a dozen legal actions this year involving more than 200 companies. Our work included two industrywide investigations; complaints to federal regulators and a self-regulatory agency; a Fifth Circuit amici curiae brief supporting the FTC; and several comments to the FTC.

TINA.org’s first industry action this year was an investigation into 100 MLM companies and their use of deceptive earnings claims to recruit and retain new distributors. As part of this action, TINA.org sent letters to nearly 100 MLMs notifying them of our findings and urging them to stop using atypical and unsubstantiated income claims to promote their business opportunities. We also filed a complaint with the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DSSRC) regarding a prominent MLM using this problematic marketing tactic (a final report has yet to be published).

TINA.org’s second industry action was an investigation into the marketing of more than 100 menopause supplement companies and their use of unsubstantiated and misleading health claims. As part of this effort, we filed complaints with the FTC and FDA regarding two leading brands for their use of deceptive health claims to market their supplements; we also sent letters to 100 other companies selling menopause supplements notifying them of this worrisome trend of unsubstantiated and misleading health claims in their industry and urging them to review their marketing to ensure compliance with the law. Further, we published a Consumer Alert to educate consumers about the marketing issues to look out for when shopping for menopause supplements.

These industry actions made a real impact this year. Our MLM industry investigation led to the removal of more than 1,000 deceptive earnings claims from publication. Similarly, our menopause supplement investigation prompted the removal of a multitude of deceptive marketing materials containing unsubstantiated health claims. Certainly, there is more work to be done in both these industries but the removals thus far are steps in the right direction.

TINA.org notched another major victory this year that was nearly 10 years in the making. The FTC and New York attorney general’s lawsuit against Quincy Bioscience for its deceptive advertising of the brain supplement Prevagen (which followed a 2015 TINA.org complaint to the FTC regarding the company’s unsubstantiated memory improvement claims) finally went to trial this year, culminating in a court order requiring Quincy to stop marketing Prevagen as able to improve memory. And after five years of monitoring Williams-Sonoma’s use of Made in USA marketing, our 2023 complaint to the FTC that the company was continuing to falsely market imported products as Made in USA resulted in a settlement this year requiring the retailer to pay a record civil penalty of $3.17 million.

Throughout the year TINA.org also submitted numerous comments to the FTC, including one urging the agency to update its COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) Rule to address when and how Safe Harbor program seals may be used in order to prevent misleading – and potentially harmful – representations regarding program approvals; another pressed the commission to amend its impersonation rule to address AI- or bot-controlled avatars such as virtual influencers that misleadingly represent individuals; a further comment supported the FTC’s proposed rule to ban junk fees (TINA.org also participated in the commission’s informal hearing regarding its proposed junk fees rule and presented an oral statement); and our last comment of the year concerned the agency’s proposed consent order regarding an AI-enabled “writing assistant” that generates genuine-sounding yet wholly fabricated product reviews.

In addition, TINA.org collaborated with other consumer organizations this year as part of our ongoing effort to address false and deceptive advertising in the marketplace. For starters, we spearheaded a Fifth Circuit amici curiae brief in which we were joined by several other leading consumer advocates and academics supporting the FTC in its case against Intuit alleging the company misleadingly advertised its TurboTax Free Edition as “free” when it is not free for the majority of taxpayers. TINA.org also joined a coalition of organizations in support of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) proposed paycheck advance rule that would seek to ensure that lenders are disclosing the real costs and fees to employees who are using paycheck advance products. Further, we joined more than a dozen organizations and over 7,000 American consumers in filing a petition to the FDA urging the agency to require food manufacturers to disclose on their packaging when their products contain animal-derived ingredients. And we joined dozens of organizations in endorsing legislation known as COPPA 2.0 to update online data privacy rules to ensure children and teenagers are protected online.

Here’s a roundup of TINA.org’s 2024 legal actions and collaborations:

• MLM Income Claims Investigation
• Menopause Supplement Industry Investigation
• Equelle
• Amberen
• TurboTax
• Williams-Sonoma
• Prevagen
• Comment to FTC Regarding COPPA Rule
• Comment to FTC Regarding Junk Fees Rule (and informal hearing participation)
• Comment to FTC Regarding Impersonation Scams Rule
• Comment to FTC Regarding Rytr AI Consent Order
• Comment to FTC Regarding Fake Reviews Rule
• Joint Comment to CFPB Regarding Paycheck Advance Rule
• Joint Petition to FDA Regarding Animal-Derived Ingredients
• COPPA 2.0 Bill Endorsement

The year’s top ad alerts based on page views ran the gamut from a “communications platform” masquerading as a house cleaning service and falsely advertising that it’ll clean your entire home for only $19, to a gym chain hiding the true costs of its memberships, to a pianist whose free webinar tutorial quickly turns into an infomercial for a $1,400 piano class. Many of the ad alerts below, including our most popular ad alert of the year, started with a consumer tip.

1. Homeaglow
2. Yu
3. Crunch Fitness
4. Stephen Ridley’s ‘Free Online Piano Masterclass’
5. Crest ‘Recycle Ready’ Toothpaste Tubes
6. Smart Drops, ‘Nature’s Liquid Adderall’
7. Rapid Radios
8. Abbey Cremation
9. USAA’s Membership Claims
10. Domino’s Free Emergency Pizza

TINA.org’s ad alerts continued to spark meaningful marketing changes in 2024. One significant win was the takedown of a website selling knockoff designer dresses. Prompted by a consumer tip, we also got an appliance company to correct a false Made in USA claim. Find more 2024 TINA.org success stories here.

In this section of last year’s Year in Review, we pondered if Prevagen could be the next supplement company to have to answer to years of false health claims after Balance of Nature agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle a lawsuit over unsupported claims to treat disease. It took almost the whole year but we got our answer in December. That’s when a federal district court ordered Prevagen to remove all the health claims challenged by regulators, who sued the company following a TINA.org complaint. Notably, this included Prevagen’s central claim that it “improves memory.” Our very recent article on the court order didn’t make the top 10 consumer news/blog posts of 2024 (based on page views). But a post on the jury verdict that preceded the court order and found that none of the challenged claims were supported by competent and reliable scientific evidence did.

Other top posts highlight TINA.org’s efforts to alert consumers to the economic hazards of multilevel marketing; the divide between the science and the marketing of apple cider vinegar supplements; and how a penny auction website continues to inflict significant financial harm on consumers while regulators do nothing.

1. What You Should Know about Super Patch
2. MLMs Continue to Recruit with Deceptive Earnings Claims
3. Jury Hands Down Verdict in Prevagen Deceptive Marketing Case
4. 2024 Deceptive Ad Trends
5. What You Should Know about Apple Cider Vinegar Supplements
6. CATrends: Terms That Prevent Consumers from Posting Negative Reviews
7. What You Should Know about Nelo Life
8. Consumers Continue to Report DealDash for Deceptive, Predatory Practices
9. Confession: I Fell for HelloFresh’s ‘Free Breakfast’
10. Holiday Shopping: Separating the Real Deals from the Fake Ones

We tracked more than 700 class-action lawsuits filed in 2024 alleging false and/or deceptive marketing. Trending in class-action litigation this year were complaints alleging:

• Marketers misrepresent the amount of ingredients in products.
• Companies fail to include fees in advertised prices.
• Retailers falsely advertise discounts off of artificially inflated reference prices and as available for a limited time.
• Companies falsely market products as Made in USA.
• Marketers fail to disclose that products contain harmful substances.
• Companies misrepresent that they protect consumers’ personal information.
• Financial institutions misrepresent when customers will be charged overdraft and other fees.
• Companies prohibit consumers from posting negative reviews.
• Companies fail to adequately disclose the terms of subscriptions.

TINA.org’s CATrends feature also highlighted class-action litigation involving avocado oil, bottled waters, “collagen” cosmetics, dating apps, fish oil supplements, flea and tick products, foods marketed as containing “real cheese” and sunscreens.

TINA.org’s work keeping ads honest was referenced by the media multiple times in 2024. From highlighting our reasonable consumer quiz to mentioning our complaint against Roblox, TINA.org’s expertise has proven to be an invaluable resource for journalists.

Publications mentioning our work included NPR, which asked us to weigh in on incredible claims promoting an online music course, USA Today reporting on our complaint to the FTC on Williams-Sonoma that resulted in the largest-ever civil penalty in a Made in USA case, Bloomberg citing our coverage of the embattled MLM company IM Academy and the New York Times Magazine that detailed our investigation into the menopause supplement industry.

In 2024, TINA.org expanded our social media efforts to educate consumers about false and deceptive advertising through short-form videos posted on TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts. We created hundreds of video posts garnering thousands of views on deceptive advertising news and consumer alerts, including not-so-recyclable Domino’s pizza boxes, a class-action against Subway for its picture-doesn’t-meet-the-reality steak and cheese sandwiches and lack of disclosure in ads for Tonal.

We also created a playlist on how to report false ads, a deceptive marketing 101 series on how to become informed on the tricks of the trade and a set of videos highlighting members of TINA.org’s Wall of Shame.

Each Friday we post an ad that someone in the office liked as a way to highlight that we recognize and appreciate that advertising serves an important role in our society – to introduce new products and services, to highlight competitive advantages and to enhance brand engagement. One of my favorites of 2024 was this one.