Industry moving against unscrupulous advertisers

Monday, April 12, 2004 | 10:37 a.m.

The industry that brought you 30-minute testimonials on the Abdominizer, the Flowbee Vacuum Hair Cut System and BluBlocker sunglasses now wants to sell you something slightly less tangible: a trustworthy reputation.

The Electronic Retailing Association, home to many infomercial marketers, plans to announce a new self-regulatory program today, one that promises to throw out companies that make false claims and send their names to the Federal Trade Commission for investigation.

The move is not a reaction to sales, which are stellar. Instead the association is concerned with the damage that could be done by continued outsized promises from marketers like Advanced Patch Technologies. "Every three days peel off the patch and watch as you take off the pounds," infomercials for its skin patch said last year. "Replace with a new patch and drop more pounds. It's that easy."

Deciding that easy was not as important as effective, the trade commission wrung more than $1 million from Advanced Patch and several co-defendants to settle charges of making unsubstantiated claims.