AirBorne Faces FTC Reality Check
Aug.18, 2008 in
Drugs
I wonder if the FTC’s smack-down of Airborne will have an adverse effect on the placebo effect of this ridiculously overpriced vitamin supplement:
AdFreak: Airborne settlement nothing to sneeze at
Mentioned in Mental Floss’s list of shameless false-advertising schemes, the ads and packaging dubiously claimed that Airborne could somehow prevent you from catching a cold. Now, the FTC is ordering the company to pay consumers back for as many as six purchases each, at an estimated total cost of $30 million.
I can imagine thousands of people reading about this and thinking, “Yeah, well it still works for me.” since science is so easily dismissed in favor of well marketed quackery these days.
via Rachelle
August 18th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I followed the advice of a few people who swear by this shit and I always wondered what the hype was over, because it never worked on me. Now I see I’m not just crazy.
Well, at least about this stuff.
August 18th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Well you definitely inspired me to write about my own silly use of this product and how much I miss its placebo effects:
http://becauseemilysaysso.blogspot.com/2008/08/fun-with-placebos.html
August 18th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
I can’t tell you how many people told me “why not take it….it can’t hurt”…..ummmm….perhaps it doesn’t hurt your chances of catching a cold, but does hurt the wallet rather quickly at 3 tablets a day. I’d like to say that I hope consumers get their money back, but I kind of feel like this was one of those Darwinism tests, and some people have not survived.