How does he get away with this?

[Hi Ho]

King Con -- Selling Questionable Cures?

This story is a bit old now but I remember watching it on TV and I could not believe what that gets away with. The government cannot do anything because he's selling books full of misinformation and that is considered free speech.

I can't believe people actually buy anything off of infomercials in the first place. When I see a product in an infomercial, I immediately assume that it is inferior (and I'm right 99% of the time).

This guy is a con-artist and is scamming more people every day, and yet, he cannot be stopped...

 

[mustang_steve]

There are some decent products that get sold on infomercials...Ronco food dehydrator comes to mind...I have an aunt that has one, and I always make sure to make up a batch of Jerky when I'm around to visit. It wasn't cheap, but it's a solid product. It's just most of these people are utter frauds, which give infomercials a bad name.

Isn't there some kind of law against giving medical advice unless you are a licensed physician or doctor? I would think he would get nailed for that if anything.

 

[Buckeye_Nut]

Isnt that the same guy who also has weight loss informercials?

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

There are some decent products that get sold on infomercials...

George Foreman electric grill! w00t!

But seriously, some people cannot legally be stopped (Mormons, I'm lookin at you). Untl somebody backs this guy over with their car, I suspect you have to keep seeing his book on store shelves.

 

[Johnd]

There's a sucker born every minute. And as long as that continues, there will be a shmuck there to take advantage of them.

The best people can do as remain vigilant and skeptical and report criminal activity to the DA, State Attorney General's Office, the US Attorneys' Office (in egregious cases), and file their own claims against the perpetrators.

 

[Jack Hammer]

He should say, "Thanks, Uncle Sam"

He gets away with it by using his experience. Every problem he has had in the past has led him toward his new method of advertising, the government keeps telling how to do it better. And it looks like they've done a good job of teaching him.

In his defense, some one has too, he actually did have some good products his companies aired in the nineties, not everything was pure cr*p, just some of it.

I haven't personally read the book, and it's highly unlikely I ever will, so I really can't comment on it other than to say, It definately looks fishy to me. But people will buy just about anything, especially if they are desparate.

 

[Hi Ho]

There are some decent products that get sold on infomercials...Ronco food dehydrator comes to mind...I have an aunt that has one, and I always make sure to make up a batch of Jerky when I'm around to visit. It wasn't cheap, but it's a solid product. It's just most of these people are utter frauds, which give infomercials a bad name.

No, not all products in informercials are crap, just most of them. Bose has an infomercial. The problem is that most of the gadgets advertised do not work at all, or they have a decent design but are built so poorly that they do not work.

I wish they had the video online of the interview referenced in the article. The video in the article is a web-only video, I was hoping it would be the TV version.

From the interview:

Asked for his "natural cure" for diabetes, Trudeau continually cites a study from the University of Calgary, which he says "has 25 years of research" of a natural way to make it so "diabetes can be, if not completely cured and wiped out in America, dramatically reduced by this herbal combination."

But when asked, the University of Calgary told ABC News that "there is no scientific evidence that any herbal remedy can cure any form of diabetes. In our review of the claims made by Trudeau's book, we have established that there have been no human studies conducted at the University of Calgary in the past 20 years on herbal remedies for diabetes."

Trudeau responded that he was "shocked and amazed" and that he would send us documentation he was referring to. We never did receive that documentation.

 

[Nick250]

I've seen this guy for decades on infomercials. He's so obviously slime that he is not even fun to watch. Now Ron Popiel (sp? the Ronco Guy) or Tony Robbins, now these guys fun to watch and see them work an audience, I mean they are good!

 

[Sheep]

I've seen this guy for decades on infomercials. He's so obviously slime that he is not even fun to watch. Now Ron Popiel (sp? the Ronco Guy) or Tony Robbins, now these guys fun to watch and see them work an audience, I mean they are good!

Tony robbins, HUNGRY! Raaaaawwwwrrrr!

Rofl.

I saw this guy when I was watching late night TV. It was between a Bose informercial and a ronco one.

I love it when shopping channel does a Bose day.

"Look what happens when we take free-air drivers and put a long tube infront of them, THEY BLOW OUT CANDLES!"

SheepStar

 

[zildjian]

Isn't there some kind of law against giving medical advice unless you are a licensed physician or doctor? I would think he would get nailed for that if anything.

Sadly, no, there isn't such a law; you don't have to have gone to medical school to give medical advice or suggest "supplements" to someone, but I strongly suggest listening more carefully to people who have. The drugs sold via TV infomercials fall into the same loop hole as the one that allows tons of "supplements" and "herbals" to be sold at your local pharmacy which so many people think have to be good for you cause they are "natural" or called "supplements". The Food & Drug Administration does not regulate them before they hit the market; the manufacturer just has to put a disclaimer somewhere on the package saying so. Even certain supplements and vitamins proven to not cause harm by themselves can cause significant drug interactions and hurt you if you aren't careful what you are taking with them, that's why these infomercial supplements make me so angry when I see people taking them and it decreases the effectiveness of their other medications or potentially hurts thems (in addition to wasting their money!).

I've seen this guy for decades on infomercials.

I remember back mid or late 1980's I think when I first saw Trudeau; it was on the mega memory infomercial; he was playing the role of the guy who had just completed the mega memory program or whatever, and he was rambling off all kinds of details that he remembered from using mega memory... I remember thinking then (wishfully), if only mega memory wasn't BS, then we'd be so much better off as the stupid people who buy this sort of infomercial stuff just might have some of their stupidity cured! Too bad for society that wasn't the case...
Brad

 

[mtrycrafts]

King Con -- Selling Questionable Cures?

This story is a bit old now but I remember watching it on TV and I could not believe what that gets away with. The government cannot do anything because he's selling books full of misinformation and that is considered free speech.

I can't believe people actually buy anything off of infomercials in the first place. When I see a product in an infomercial, I immediately assume that it is inferior (and I'm right 99% of the time).

This guy is a con-artist and is scamming more people every day, and yet, he cannot be stopped...

Yes, he is a con artist, very good one.
A great demonstration of the Barnum Effect at work.
I guess sarius would prefer us to disprove his claims first though

 

[mtrycrafts]

Isn't there some kind of law against giving medical advice unless you are a licensed physician or doctor? I would think he would get nailed for that if anything.

Yes, but the government like to settle with a fine. He certainly can afford the fine knowing full well he just moves on to another product to push. Then the clock starts all over again, millions roll in the meantime.

 

[Jack Hammer]

Love him or hate him, you have to give the man credit for being a genious at marketing, and having huge ballz. I just saw his new version of infomercial last night, he states everything constantly as his opinion and as "what I do is." He's offering a book on cd with a big label across it saying "banned by the FTC." Man, are they going to be mad. I wonder if his lawyers love him for all the money he makes them, or hate him for all the headache he gives them.

 

[sjdgpt]

His sharks, oops I mean lawyers, share some DNA in common with his own parentage. Then again, do sharks and magots really have much DNA in common?