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Smiling Bob still on TV!

Cinorjer

Thinker
C
Joined
May 25, 2003
Messages
242
I am puzzled by the announcement in the commentary about the scam artist behind Enzite and Smiling Bob was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution. I'm puzzled because Smiling Bob with the Enzite scam commercials are still appearing regularly on the cable networks where I live. In fact, just yesterday I had to sit through yet another jaw-clenching episode. I actually work in a local cable advertising business, and the network/cable company involved is quick to pull advertising where the company is in legal trouble or the commercial is deemed illegal.

Don't the courts usually order that all associated advertising and selling stop when the scam artist loses in court? Does anyone know if the company was actually ordered to stop selling this junk? If so, it appears that order is being ignored.
 
It's not illegal to sell the product. The judgments were regarding deceptive business practices, such as promoting a money-back guarantee but then making returns virtually impossible. There may have been tax and money-laundering issues involved as well.
 
So the fact that the "money back" part was a lie is putting someone in prison, but the fact that the claims for what the product does are complete lies is OK? Only in the courts would this make sense.
 
Cinorjer said:
So the fact that the "money back" part was a lie is putting someone in prison, but the fact that the claims for what the product does are complete lies is OK? Only in the courts would this make sense.
Click to expand...

What does the advertisement specifically and concretely claim the product does? The ads I've seen simply offer "natural male enhancement" without explicitly describing what that means. They leave any interpretation to the mind of the viewer.
 
Cinorjer said:
So the fact that the "money back" part was a lie is putting someone in prison, but the fact that the claims for what the product does are complete lies is OK? Only in the courts would this make sense.
Click to expand...

It's a herbal product and thus exempt from any need to prove it's safe and effective. As we all know, natural products are completely safe. God didn't allow anything in nature that would harm us.

So sit down, relax and try a cup of fresh hemlock tea.
 
Kestrel said:
It's a herbal product and thus exempt from any need to prove it's safe and effective. As we all know, natural products are completely safe. God didn't allow anything in nature that would harm us.

So sit down, relax and try a cup of fresh hemlock tea.
Click to expand...
Not quite. One must prove the 'claims' made if one claims a medical benefit.

A "certain male part" and "bigger" do not constitute any actual claim just as applying HeadOn to one's forehead doesn't actually make a claim of what the product supposedly does. And while you may not have to prove in advance your food supplement is safe, you are liable if it harms anyone. After all, we don't require safety studies in advance on other food products. We do require safety studies on food additives.

Without a medical claim, supplement product regulation falls under the category of food. Enzyte is not the first, nor likely to be the last product advertised by implying a claim rather than making a claim.

"Listerine kills germs" is another false claim in that it only implies that killing these germs then results in any benefit, though they recently added fluoride to their product to be able to make claims about its affect on dental cavities. The makers of Listerine were the only company actually ordered to make a commercial retracting their previous false claims about "preventing colds and flu". Lot of good it did.

If we want to respect free speech then we need to address this problem not from the angle of regulating advertising but rather, from the angle of educating the public to recognize that an implied claim means an unprovable claim. Personally, I'd prefer these implied claims were as illegal as false claims. But I think that gets muddy when you start claiming 'whiter', 'best', 'better', 'most recommended' and so on.

At least the government is going after some of these charlatans on other charges.

Wiki has a good summary of the charges this guy was convicted on and links to a class action lawsuit that was won last year. EnzyteWP.
 
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The stations that are still running the ads have been paid to do so. I don't imagine they'd interrupt their revenue streams unless ordered by the court.
 
Cinorjer said:
So the fact that the "money back" part was a lie is putting someone in prison, but the fact that the claims for what the product does are complete lies is OK? Only in the courts would this make sense.
Click to expand...
Easy there. The company had previously altered its ads to comply with a court order. The current ads are legal.
 
I think the Smilin' Bob ads are funnier than a lot of sitcoms, m'self.
 
I see there's some new topical (I think) stuff someone is advertizing - supposed to make you a behemouth in the male enhancement department. Watch out gals!!!
 
I took megadoses of Enzyte, Saw palmetto, Yohimbe and Horny Goat Weed for months and didn't notice any appreciable change in my unit.

I did grow a second one though...
 
a penis pump will make your unit grow grow grow, and when you take the pump off it will make your unit shrivel up like a popped weather balloon!
 
The thing I notice about the Enzyte (and other products of its ilk) advertising is that they never come out and say "We'll make your penis larger!" Instead they just use the words "Bigger" "More" and words of that nature as I imagine a CYA thing so they can say if they're ever bought up on charges of some sort "Hey, we never said you'd get a larger penis out of it".
 
This reminds me of the cat gravel advertised as "asbestos free".
That was illegal, as it implied something false about other brands.
 
EvilSmurf said:
The thing I notice about the Enzyte (and other products of its ilk) advertising is that they never come out and say "We'll make your penis larger!" Instead they just use the words "Bigger" "More" and words of that nature as I imagine a CYA thing so they can say if they're ever bought up on charges of some sort "Hey, we never said you'd get a larger penis out of it".
Click to expand...

They do refer to "that part of the male anatomy", which they could weasel out and say they meant pectorals or feet or whatever.
 
It's shameful the FTC cannot distinguish between free speech and outright snake oil fraud.

Kevin Trudeau is still on the infomercial schedule selling his latest scam as well.
 
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