Even claims for products with real benefits must have a reasonable basis. The Commission challenged a number of claims that the company made about the percentage of purchasers of its cross-country ski exerciser who lost weight, the amount of weight they lost, how long they maintained their weight loss, and how much exercise was needed to achieve an average weight loss of eighteen pounds in twelve weeks. Weight loss claims are health claims that must be substantiated by competent and reliable scientific evidence. Although NordicTrack based its claims on studies, unfortunately the studies had methodological flaws that prevented them from being adequate substantiation. Also, the studies failed to take into account changes in purchasers' dietary habits and may have been subject to bias by relying on self-reported body weight.
Infomercials rely heavily on consumer testimonials to sell products and services.
Frequently companies that we ask to provide substantiation point to the testimonials they used in their ads, send us letters from happy customers, and may even provide affidavits from individuals who used a product or service and found that it did exactly what the advertising promised. Testimonials, however, are not substantiation. The Commission rarely finds anecdotal evidence like this to be a sufficient basis to support a claim. In fact, we have explicitly rejected it as substantiation for health-related claims. The Commission may consider anecdotal evidence in assessing the scope of injury to consumers and whether the use of Commission resources on a particular case is in the public interest.