BBB National Programs Archive
ERSP Refers 7 Day Miracle Cleanse To The FTC
New York, NY January 11, 2005 – The Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program (ERSP), the electronic direct-response industry’s self-regulatory forum, announced that it will refer advertising for the 7 Day Miracle Cleanse, to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The truth and accuracy of the marketer’s claims came to the attention of ERSP through a monitoring and consumer challenge.
Among the core representations at issue made by 7 Day Miracle Cleanse, Inc. for its product in the thirty-minute infomercial were: “[Infomercial spokesman and product inventor Paris A. DeAguero is the] … healthiest man alive.”; “You can look and feel 10 to 20 years younger than your age; have perfect cholesterol; perfect body weight; and consistent bowel eliminations. A body immune to all sickness.; “The average person will lose 10-20 pounds or more in just 7 days”; and “Within 7 days on my first program…my skin cancer sores had scabbed over. Within 14 days they had healed completely.
After directly contacting the marketer by telephone, 7 Day Miracle Cleanse failed to respond to ERSP’s request for substantiation. Pursuant to the ERSP Procedures, after failing to respond to ERSP’s original inquiry within fifteen calendar days, the direct response marketer was afforded a second ten-day period in which to submit a substantive response. The marketer failed to meet this second deadline and pursuant to section 2.6 (B) of the ERSP Procedures, this inquiry has been referred to the FTC in order to address concerns regarding the truthfulness and accuracy of the 7 Day Miracle Cleanse direct response advertisement.