Don’t Be Fooled By Diet Drug “Articles”
Not long ago, I found myself in the middle of reading a newspaper article about some new diet supplement that’s supposed to be an all-natural way to effortlessly lose weight.
Riiiight, I figured, and my BS-detector went into hyper drive. The byline, Universal Media Syndicate, sounded legitimate enough but the language was so over-the-top that I just couldn’t understand how something so as amazing as they described wasn’t being discussed 24/7 on every news and radio station.
Sure enough, it’s a paid advertisement in the form of a news “article”, only it’s not being run under that handy little “Paid advertisement” blurb that magazines and newspapers usually use. Apparently, I’m not the only one to have had a problem with the way this supplement, Apatrim, is being marketed.
Apatrim, according to the story, is a “newly released diet pill” which contains an extract of Caralluma Fimbriata, a cactus-like plant widely grown in India where it is eaten as a vegetable and used as an ingredient in curries and chutneys.
What we can confirm is that Caralluma Fimbriata, like the South African “succulent” plant Hoodia Gordonii, has indeed been chewed for many years by Indian tribesmen during long hunts to suppress appetite and enhance endurance.
But from there, the breathless weight-loss claims for Apatrim not only become more suspect, but seem likely to ultimately involve its distributor, PatentHEALTH, LLC , with the judicial system.
I started to rant about this marketing method to my husband, who replied that it’s not much different from getting paid to review sites and products on blogs, something at which I’m making some decent money each month.
But the difference, as I explained to VH, is that I’m not making money by selling a product — like the makers of Apatrim are attempting to do with their disguised ads. I make money by writing about a site or product, regardless of whether anyone buys it. A fine distinction, perhaps, but the latter doesn’t involve hoodwinking people into taking any action whatsoever.
At any rate, the point is that even with a highly-refined BS detector, the Chubby Mommy within me still wants to believe in a magic weight loss pill, despite experience proving otherwise. Repeatedly. Even the Alli I’m taking has been far less effective than hyped, and if it weren’t for Janet giving me her starter pack I probably wouldn’t be taking it still, having decided that it’s simply not worth it.
Which is why, I’m pleased to say, I just finished a 30-minute stint on my exercise bike, and the only “magic pill” I’ll be taking today is an aspirin. Make that two. Having used some muscles this week that have been neglected far too long, I ache just about everywhere.
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13 Comments »
Comment by Jaz
October 4, 2007 @ 12:43 pm #
I know what you mean about those ads disguised as news articles. Having been sort of hoodwinked about those a couple of times in the distant past, I find that they are dishonest IMHO. That might be a DUH statement but true.
Obviously, the product itself is not going to work as well as expected because we tend to want that “magic” pill. Nobody really wants to exercise and make food consumption changes but that’s about what it takes. But they also want to hype it as being some type of well known super pill that everybody but you who only now has stumbled across it. Yeah right. Your BS-o-meter was right on the money!
Thanks for the post on this subject.
Comment by Margi
October 4, 2007 @ 1:16 pm #
P.T Barnum said it best.
(And I include myself in teh Suckahs that want that magic pill. Still.)
Comment by jae
October 4, 2007 @ 3:33 pm #
See, the whole reason I feel okay about paid blogging is because I hardly EVER linked to anything before I started, so I figure my few faithful readers know it’s income generating. If it’s not a news article, it’s paid.
Easy for a lazy girl like me
As for the magic pill — I wish. My bike is still screaming about being disturbed after such a long rest.
Comment by Chubby Mommy
October 4, 2007 @ 3:37 pm #
Funny, my butt’s been screaming about the same thing since I started using my bike again.
Comment by Kristy
October 17, 2007 @ 11:57 am #
If only I had read this last week…I hate myself…I know better…but as I was reading our local paper…there it was…the answer to my prayers…IN BLACK AND WHITE…I truely thought that it was a legit ARTICLE…not an AD!!! That’s the main reason I ordered the darn things…I remember foolishly thinking “my paper wouldn’t write it…if it weren’t true…”@*#%
Comment by Chubby Mommy
October 17, 2007 @ 12:04 pm #
Was that the one in Parade magazine? I couldn’t believe when I read they were going to run a diet drug ad in there — for the first time ever. I wonder how many people were duped by that fact.
Don’t feel bad… your wallet’s lighter, at least.
And, hey, if it works let me know!
Comment by renee
October 26, 2007 @ 1:31 pm #
Just to let you know, I started on the Apatrim 5 days ago. I have not changed my eating habits and I absolutely do not work out. I have changed nothing and I have lost 2 pounds already this week. I am still eating the same and drinking the same.
Comment by Chubby Mommy
October 31, 2007 @ 10:04 am #
That’s awesome! Are you feeling OK?
Comment by renee
November 5, 2007 @ 2:21 pm #
yes, feeling just fine
Comment by Chubby Mommy
November 5, 2007 @ 3:27 pm #
That’s really great news, and I’m thrilled for you on the weight loss front.
Unfortunately, those things don’t change the deceptiveness of the ads, particularly for those people who buy the pills and don’t see any success.
Comment by Sunshine
January 10, 2008 @ 5:23 pm #
so that means Apatrim actually works? i mean i seen it in the articles and i’m dieing to get them but just reading this blog i have secound thoughts about it. maybe it works or maybe it doesn’t.
chubby mommy would you ever try this “magic pill”?
Comment by Mike
January 11, 2008 @ 8:18 pm #
So I saw the Article (aka AD) in our paper here in chicago. And what do you know I was duped also. I bought some. So tonight i decided you know what i should look into this a little more and now i find out it was an ad! So I go back to the article (THE AD) and sure enough in little letters across the top its says AD.. I think I should have stayed with the advice my parents gave me a long time ago. If something sounds to good to be true most likely it is.
Keeping my fingers crossed this stuff does something to me. In a good way! Ill keep you guys informed if this stuff remotely works or not.
Comment by mommy help
December 9, 2008 @ 11:16 pm #
i just think that the only way to really loose weight is to work out and eat good thats all there is too it
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