'Results Not Typical' Banned From Diet Ads

by Lisa Johnson (Subscribe to Lisa Johnson's posts)
Oct 8th 2009 9:00AM

Categories: Diet & Weight Loss, Fitness, Celebs & Entertainment

Photo: Michael Buckner, Getty Images

The Federal Trade Commission handed down a new set of guidelines on Monday that remove the words "results not typical" from advertising. In one fell swoop, all those ads that we've been living with for years are gone. For Valerie Bertinelli and a host of other celebrity weight-loss endorsers, this might mean that they're out of a job.

The last time the rules were updated was 1980. During that time, the diet industry flourished under the "results not typical" tagline, not revealing what the weight-loss superstar being portrayed actually did to achieve her fab new bod.

From now on, it has to be spelled out in one of two ways. Either the advertiser can say, "Ms. Glamazon lost 50 pounds in six months by going to the gym six days a week, doing tons of cardio and taking our product." Or Ms. Glamazon can strut her stuff on TV or in a magazine, and the advertiser must say something to the effect of, the average person loses 15 pounds in six months on this product.

This will provide a much more realistic view of these weight-loss products.

My guess is that we'll discover that the usual amounts of exercise more and eat less work like a charm, with or without said wonder products. I, for one, am looking forward to a lot less enticement and a lot more realism.

For more information on realistic weight loss, check out these five rules.

Comments (17)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

emily 10-08-2009 @ 8:20PM

You know, if people are stupid enough to fall for this rash in the beginning changing a phrase won't help them a bit.

michele 10-08-2009 @ 8:28PM

yeah, but people might actually be getting products that work instead of crap that doesnt do anything

DC Fan 10-09-2009 @ 12:45PM

I have to agree with you. But I'm glad that someone is stepping in to cut the bull crap a little.

Susan 10-08-2009 @ 8:44PM

Gee truth in advertising, whodathunkit.

Keats 10-08-2009 @ 9:42PM

Me thinks if you look in a mirror you'll find
all this fat you lost from your behind
between your ears mingled in your mind

Katie 10-08-2009 @ 9:57PM

It's about time! Of course, it's up to the individual to research and make the right decision. Weight loss is like a crap shoot. What works for one person, doesn't work for the next. If there was a "magic bullet" then we would all be taking that or doing that program. The reality is, just like when you go to the doctor, what worked to "cure" one person, doesn't work to "cure" the next. That's why they call it "practicing medicine".
We have realized that we were created in different colors, we just can't seem to grasp that we were also created in different sizes! Just because you carry more weight than what is "socially acceptable" doesn't mean that you are any less of a person. As soon as we realize that, we will be much further down the road as accepting that our neighbor, our friend, our co-worker are just the same as us.....A HUMAN BEING! Look at animals! There are different sizes and shapes of the same breed and type of animal, yet we accept that fact. Why can't we accept that of ourselves? Sure, breeding and genetics have a lot to do with it, but doesn't it also for us???
Next time you decide to take the only socially acceptable way to discriminate or ridicule your fellow human being, why don't you stop and thing, "But for the grace of God, there go I"!!!

TheWatcher 10-08-2009 @ 10:02PM

Face facts....

THE ONLY WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT, IS STAY OFF FATTY FOODS, AND EXERCISE.

jlw 10-08-2009 @ 10:27PM

Ya don't need to be a rocket scientist to know you 're not gonna lose 45 pounds in a month. Sadly, some people will believe anything...even those with PhDs.

coco 10-08-2009 @ 11:04PM

Yes, Simzee; I report these trash ads eveytime I see them. But the sites should do more.

ZAK 10-08-2009 @ 10:58PM

How about banning the word "SAVE" (and all variations), from all advertisments for products the advertisers want you to BUY. How about requiring all sellers to round off prices to the nearest 25 cents; thus eliminating the annoying abuse of $9999.99? How about banning the phrase; "The more you buy...the more you SAVE!" How about getting gas stations to abandon pricing that ends with 9/10 cent? That's outrageous!!! I could go on all day...

KatieCouric'sNemesis 10-09-2009 @ 12:16AM

This is to everyone who questions whether anyone reports the posted comments advertising sex tapes of famous personnel, or how to meet and marry a wealthy male.

Yes, they get reported. No, AOL doesn't care. AOL, while acting in a self-righteous manner over individuals who might post something another finds objectionable, is not going to do anything to a dot-com website.

My suggestion is to leave AOL, as I have done today. I opened an email/Internet account with a competitor a year ago, and, to date, have not gotten one SPAM or unsolicited email in those accounts. Yet, my late unlamented AOL account is swamped with them hourly.

Good-bye, AOL. May the farce you are be with your company.

capwhan 10-09-2009 @ 12:48AM

Can't wait to see how the advertisers handle this. Now for a change they have to be almost honest. Time will tell.

ogfrvn 10-20-2009 @ 12:10AM

It's about time the FDA or the FTA or the FCC commissions did something about this misleading and often ignored statement. The only way a diet will work is if the person is committed to it.

Tash 10-09-2009 @ 2:15AM

I recently lost a lot of weight, after seeing a nutritionist & finding out all the bad things not to eat, that advertisers say are good for you, (Special K- I had been doing everyday, she said "No"!), or that a muffin has more calories then eggs, fruit, & wheat toast. You actually can eat more (of good things) & loose. I eat 5 times a day, small portions. I went to 2000 then 1500 calories a day, she had me do a colon cleanser once a week, & I drank fennel tea daily, after 3 months of physical therapy (had surgeries & gained much weight) & then a home plan of my own, I went from a size 13 to a 2. I went so fast in clothes size, I now go to consignment shops for my clothes. The most difficult excercise I do are pilates or light water arobics. I never would have thought I'd see my high school size after age 40! It was so easy with disipline when I realized I weighed 155 lost to 122 from January to June, I was so proud of myself, & still with many restrictions physically I was able to do it, no bread & no pasta, or it starts coming back on! I had no outside help, no meds or weight loss pills at all. In younger years though I lost 30 pounds with the Rx -Zenical, (under a Dr.supervision) it really works! But unsightly side effects! Good luck to all who try! God Bless!

john 10-09-2009 @ 4:08AM

The latest commercial i hate is the one for the new mouse trap that makes the husband look like an idiot .Why do white men always get crapped on put a stupid woman in a commercial and heads rolls.I mean protrayed as a stupid woman I know jessica simpson does commercials

burl 10-09-2009 @ 5:30AM

You CANNOT set on your fat ass and get skinny by purchasing cheesy crap from TV infomercials. Didnt your parents teach you anything? I suppose you are the type of fool whose Mom and Dad dumped them off at the Mall for the security guards to babysit?

Kandy 10-09-2009 @ 7:24AM

Wow, it is about time. As a person with weight loss issues it is hard not to want to try other things to lose the pounds. It is funny becuase in my recently published book Making Light of Being Heavy, a comical look at being a fat chick in today's society, that same point about "Results not typical" was something I poked fun at as well as many other misconceptions portrayd by society in general. www.makinglightofbeingheavy.com