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Home » Lose Weight Fast » They Claimed What? 10 Products With Outrageous Marketing Claims

We live in a hypersaturated consumer products market where businesses have to fight to get our attention. It's no wonder that to do so, companies have resorted to making marketing claims that border on the ridiculous. We've all come across the variety ofweight-loss pillsthat claim to help you lose X pounds in Y days, or supplements that claim toenhancecertain male parts by Z inches, and wondered: Why are companies allowed to get away with such outrageous claims? Shouldn't they be submitted to truth tests?

In fact, the Federal Trade Commission (or FTC) is the agency responsible for administering a truth test of sorts for consumer products. Under itsBureau of Consumer Protectionwing, the agency "protects consumers from unfair or deceptive advertising and marketing practices that raise health and safety concerns, as well as those that cause economic injury [and] brings law enforcement actions in federal district court to stop fraudulent advertising practices."

It's a fine line that the FTC has to walk in determining whether or not a marketing claim has crossed the line into fraud. Go too far, and we have a situation like that in the European Union, where companies making bottled water were banned from making the claim that water canprevent dehydration. Be too lax, and we become like China, where you can never be sure of the authenticity of afood product.

Even with the FTC regulating marketing claims, companies still routinely release products on the market with the most outrageuous of claims, hoping that we'll fall for it. "These campaigns identify buzz words that encourage us to try the product. Words that imply improvement in performance, endurance, or overall health do influence consumers' purchasing habits," George Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, toldU.S. News.

The list of products with literally incredible marketing claims is interminable. Here Minyanville presents 10 of the most outrageous claims.

1. Hand Sanitizers Can Prevent MRSA

Together with surgical masks, the popularity of hand sanitizers received a tremendous boost during the global swine flu outbreak. Since then, these antiseptic gels and foams have become a ubiquitous go-to source to disinfect hands. But it turns out that many of these hand sanitizers are not quite as effective in germ-killing as they claim to be. Its not exactly news In 2006, theNew York Timesreported that these products contain much less than the 60% minimum alcohol concentration needed to eliminate germs and viruses. That does not stop hand sanitizer makers from claiming that their products can prevent infection fromSalmonella,E. coli, and the H1N1 virus.

However, claims that hand sanitizers can also prevent infection from methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureusare another matter. The FDA decided that four companies claims about their products, including Tec Laboratories Staphaseptic First Aid Antiseptic/Pain Relieving Gel and CleanWell Companys All-Natural Foaming Hand Sanitizer, had gone too far. The regulatory agency sent the companies a warning letter telling them to withdraw their claims. These products give consumers a false sense of protection, said an FDA spokesperson, according toTime. What should consumers do instead? Turns out theres no prevention method better than good oldsoap and water.

2. Taco Bell's Seasoned Beef Is Exactly Like Real Beef

We all know what we are going to get when we step into a fast-food restaurant. Call it managing expectations cheap, fast, and not particularly healthy are the signposts of fast food.Yum Brands(YUM) Taco Bell has lowered the bar, though, because now were not even supposed to presume that what we see is what we get. The fast-food chain asserts that its Mexican-inspired menu is made with ground beef or seasoned ground beef, but a law firm in Alabama filed a class action suit against the chain saying that the "taco meat filling" used by Taco Bell contains only about 35% beef, with binders, extenders, preservatives, additives, and other agents making up the other 65%, theNew York Daily Newsreports. Based on the Department of Agricultures guidelines,ground beef should not have water, phosphates, binders, or extenders. As theDaily Newsnotes, 'seasoned beef' in a Beefy Crunch Burrito contains water, sodium phosphates, soy lecithin, modified cornstarch, and anti-caking and anti-dusting agents, among others ingredients.

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They Claimed What? 10 Products With Outrageous Marketing Claims

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Home » Lose Weight Fast » They Claimed What? 10 Products With Outrageous Marketing Claims