Is it Safe To Promote Weight Loss Products?

10 replies
The US FDA has recently charged several Weight Loss supplements companies Millions for providing products that do not provide the weight loss has advertised. Weight Loss Guru like Dr. Oz was also charged for endorsing such products. I have noticed a drop in my affiliate sales for weight loss products in recent times has it branded about on TV that most weight loss supplements are not safe.
I was wondering are affiliates going to held liable too? What are your thoughts on this?
#loss #products #promote #safe #weight
  • Profile picture of the author shaunybb
    like anything in advertising, if claims are made but results are not produced there is going to be issues. The FDA is always working to weed out the bad products. Some slip by them, some don't.


    There is so much physical and emotional pain for people in this market, unfortunately people will buy any pills or cream etc in the hope that they can lose weight. These big billion dollar weight loss pill companies don't care about their customers....all they want is profit. Maybe they should read start with why!!!
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    • Profile picture of the author dana67
      Have you considered exercise and exercise related products to promote as a means of weight loss? Just another area to consider that may be safer?
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  • Profile picture of the author kimanierick
    Its so sad to see millions of people buying this products each and every day but dont get the results they desire. If you want to remain in that weight loss business, try and research about the products that have already been approved by the government as safe and legal. or you can shift to other methods such as establishing a gym center where you can train people about the natural ways of losing weight. by this you get a lot of trust which will later be converted to income. please mind peoples health before doing anything that might harm them. thank you
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    • Profile picture of the author irawr
      Banned
      The product can not make outrageous claims.

      If the product is a pill and it's not sold at drug stores, you need to be careful using a website to promote it. Email should be okay since it's less "visible." I also wouldn't run paid advertising into any diet pill, unless you are 100% certain the network doesn't care (definitely no google, no facebook, and I would triple check the claims if you want to use bing.) If the product is being marketed as a "weight loss aid" and the claims are reasonable it should be fine there. I see people doing the cross comparison sites on bing now (good strategy.)

      If it's a book or course that teaches workout programs, or 1500F/2000M calorie diets, then this is completely fine. Again, be careful about the claims. If the product suggests that you do some insane workout routine while being on a 1000 calorie diet while slamming gallons of salt water, then no, this isn't healthy and it's not a good idea to market it.

      Don't market BS products either, I don't mean stuff like shake-wieght, that's fine. But there's some weight loss stuff out there that's insane and hard to believe it works. And it's harder to believe people will buy it. This issue here is going to be getting people to believe the product will work while being compliant.

      If you're new to marketing I would stick to fitness/work out programs while you learn the ropes of FTC compliance on the side. At the end of the day it's probably the most valuable thing you could learn, since understanding the law allows you to do things that you wouldn't necessarily think were allowed while simultaneously keeping yourself out of court.

      I know there's some people on these forums that think my ethics suck (really guys, some people find PDLs to be very useful) but I doubt any of them would think that marketing fitness or workout programs was unethical. So if telling mom about how you're making money is important then stick to that stuff.
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      • Profile picture of the author discrat
        Be careful with weight loss products that deal with 'hard' goods. I kind of stay away from them altogether. Unless it is very convincing they are on the up and up.

        Of course, some of the digital products can be just downright scams as well. And can be very overpriced.

        So you have to watch out for that too !!


        - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author Rich Struck
    Google "Kevin Trudeau" to learn about the downside of spectacular claims.
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    • Profile picture of the author discrat
      Originally Posted by Rich Struck View Post

      Google "Kevin Trudeau" to learn about the downside of spectacular claims.
      Yep, that guy was a trip. I remember my brother trying to turn me on to him in late 90s with his commercials and his seemingly knowledgeable mind about fat loss and cancer cure.

      Got 10 years in the slammer last year. And still claimed he was literally penniless and reformed at his sentencing...only to find emails between and his attorney trying to hide millions in Swiss and Caribbean accounts

      Con artists never change


      - Robert Andrew
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  • Profile picture of the author LesterRussell
    Its our job as marketers to find out more about the products before sending the offer to our customers. Marketers that just look for highly converting offers are no different than those companies that are out to seek a profit without care of the people purchasing them.

    For any claims you are uncertain of, do your part by researching more about it to find out if they are legitimate. This is my own code of ethics that i always abide by to ensure i am not selling them a fraud.
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  • Profile picture of the author gavinwalsh1
    I only promote info products at the moment and I've had no problems. Using Clickbank mostly with the odd private affiliate platforms.

    Physical products don't offer enough of a commission for my liking.

    Having said that, there is a new greens drink on Clickbank, which seems to be doing pretty well.

    Just my 2 cents...
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  • Profile picture of the author LogoShield
    If you are an affiliate through a service such as JVZoo or ClickBank you will be safe as far as affiliation goes, but make sure you take down your product page immediately if the product is deemed illegal by the FDA / Government.
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