The buzz on many websites seems to be about acai berry supplements that purportedly can help you lose weight. Here is one such site (click to enlarge):

This looks like a local TV news station’s report on acai berries, reporter and all, who tested the stuff herself.  The station, News 8, WKRV-TV is in Florida, according to the masthead.

*MOUSE PRINT:  WKRV-TV in Florida is non-existent.  WKRV is a small FM radio station in Illinois, and may once have been a TV station in some other cities.

But what about our intrepid investigative reporter, Rachel Frank, pictured above?  Well, it seems she has a twin sister named Julia who wears the exact same clothing and works at some other health news website:

The “sisters” wrote about their experience using the product in a diary-format for a four week period, including saying “My energy level seemed to steady climb each day during this first week.”  Funny how the sisters made the exact same typo in each of their reports.

*MOUSE PRINT: Even more coincidental, women named “Jackie”, “Christine”, and “Kate”, and one unidentified man who looks strangely like NBC’s white house correspondent Chuck Todd, all said the same thing in those exact words on their websites.

In the first ad above, there are two disclaimers at the top.

*MOUSE PRINT: One says “advertorial” and the other says “this website is not affiliated with any news outlet.”

Hmmm.  So those few words are somehow supposed to overcome the net impression created by the website that this is a television station doing an investigation of a diet pill?

We saved the best for last:

*MOUSE PRINT: At the very bottom of the website in tiny type on a grey background is this disclosure:

“This website, and any page on the website, is based loosely off a true story, but has been modified in multiple ways including, but not limited to: the story, the photos, and the comments. Thus, this blog, and any page on this website, are not to be taken literally or as a non-fiction story.” –Ad 1

“THE STORY DEPICTED ON THIS SITE AND THE PERSON DEPICTED IN THE STORY ARE NOT REAL. ” — Ad 2

Finally, there have been some real news reports of consumers who took advantage of “free trial offers” and wound up being billed for hundreds of dollars of unordered products.  (See also our story on tooth whitener offers.)

Buyer beware.

Weight Watchers just started a new advertising campaign promising a free month of service.

In two different TV commercials the company promotes a “free month”. In one, this is what the narrator says:

“In the time it takes you to watch a bad reality show, you can learn to switch off hungry and lose weight. Right now Weight Watchers is offering a whole month free. Join and get a month of unlimited meetings with online tools so all you need is 45 minutes a week, to take control, turn hungry off, and turn weight loss on. The free month offer is only available for a limited time, so join today. Hurry registration is free too. Weight Watchers. Stop dieting, start living.” [red color added]

*MOUSE PRINT: In the first TV commercial, the fine print disclosure on the screen for approximately three seconds says:

*Must buy first month of monthly pass to get free second month. Automatically renews each month until you cancel. Not available in AZ, HI, AR, TN and other nonparticipating franchise areas. Offer ends 10/17/09.

In another TV commercial, the company promotes a free month of Weight Watchers online:

*MOUSE PRINT: As the announcer is saying “sign up now and get one month free” a fine print disclosure in the commercial reads:

*Must purchase a 3 month subscription to Weight Watchers Online to get your 4th month free.

Finally, here is the promotion for a free month as it appears on the homepage of their website:

*MOUSE PRINT: The footnotes on the Weight Watcher’s website tell the full story and disclose this (actual size):

The offer is really “buy one month, get one free” or “buy three months, get the 4th month free.”  That is far different from the impression created that the company is giving away a free month period.  “Get a free month” and “Buy X months, get one free” are two completely different offers. The TV commercials make no oral disclosure at all about a purchase requirement.  All they talk about is getting a free month. 

Particularly for a program that is not selling food, but rather just offering meetings and guidance, the concept of getting a month free without strings is certainly plausible.  (Bally gives away one or two months free every winter, with no purchase requirement.)

Can’t companies play it straight and stop advertising “FREE” but somehow forget to clearly mention the required “BUY” part of an offer in the same breath?

[The Vice President of Public Relations for Weight Watchers International did not respond to a written request for comment for this story.]

Who doesn’t want a whiter, brighter smile? Everyone does, and so companies have popped up online offering “free trials” of their teeth whiteners. But beware of geeks bearing gifts.

One consumer wrote to Mouse Print* describing how a friend was taken in by the promotion:

It seems she came upon a site that was put together in a way that it appeared to be some local housewife going on about how using two different teeth whitening products together (one after the other in succession) she got amazing results comparable to the hundreds of dollar laser whitening you can get at the dentist. There was all this hoopla about how the lady had tried for years to get coffee and cigarette stains off her teeth and how the normal teeth whitening products never gave her satisfying results but yet with both the products it was amazing blah, blah, blah. The housewife ad says that she is from Houston (turns out it is a code meant to trick you that says she is from where ever the viewer is – if your in New Zealand so is she trying to give a false sense of camaraderie) … Here is the thing she received the trial samples 15 days after signing up for the “free trial” so before she would have even had a chance to try the item and decide it wasn’t for her (if she had realized that was the deal)they had already sent out two more packages of each at $75 per and revoked any satisfaction guarantee.

On a similar site, the geographic connection to the reader is trying to be made, but they obviously used a directionally impaired computer program:

Another regular reader wrote that he was taken in by this similar site that extolled the virtues of two other teeth whitening products that had free trial offers.  He received three shipments and multiple bills when he was only expecting two free samples.

When visiting the actual sites of the two products being touted, there is a ton of fine print disclosing a ton of charges.

*MOUSE PRINT: For Dazzle White, the charges include [red highlighting added]:

Upon placing your first order for Online Products, you will automatically be enrolled in the DazzlewhitePure^TM all-access program (”All-Access Program”). The All-Access Program enables you to access, via your Services Account, the Insider Secrets Expert Tips Package (”Insider Secrets Package”) and the Comprehensive Weight Loss eBook Package (”eBook Package”) made available on the Website. Initially, you shall have access to the Insider Secrets Package pursuant to a fourteen (14) day trial period (”Insider Secrets Access Pass”). If you do not cancel your Insider Secrets Access Pass during your fourteen (14) day trial period, then your Active Credit Card will be charged the monthly Insider Access Package fee of Three Dollars and Twenty-Four Cents ($3.24) (”IAP Monthly Fee”). Thereafter, for as long as your Insider Secrets Access Pass remains active, your Active Credit Card will be charged for the IAP Monthly Fee on a monthly basis, for your ongoing Insider Secrets Access Pass.

Further, you shall initially have access to the eBook Package pursuant to a twenty-eight (28) day trial period (”eBook Access Pass”). If you do not cancel your eBook Access Pass during your twenty-eight (28) day trial period, then your Active Credit Card will be charged the monthly Insider Access Package fee of Seven Dollars and Fourteen Cents ($7.14) (”EAP Monthly Fee” and together, with the IAP Fees, the “Access Fees”). Thereafter, for as long as your eBook Access Pass remains active, your Active Credit Card will be charged for the EAP Monthly Fee on a monthly basis, for your ongoing eBook Access Pass.

All Access Fees will appear on your Active Credit Card bill as “Internet Access Fee and Membership.” You hereby authorize DazzlewhitePure^TM (or its partners, affiliates and/or agents) to charge your Active Credit Card all such Access Fees on a monthly basis. You acknowledge and agree that DazzlewhitePure^TM will not obtain additional authorization from you for each installment of Access Fees charged to your Active Credit Card.

B. ONLINE PRODUCTS

When our Offer is indicated to be “Risk-Free” we mean that by providing the ability to fully cancel and stop future payments, we eliminate the risk of incurring unwanted charges or commitments.

Trial Offer and Sixty (60) Day Guarantee: Where DazzlewhitePure^TM offers its “Trial” Promotion, and where you have chosen to register for such Promotion, upon submitting your initial DazzlewhitePure^TM Application, your Active Credit Card will be charged only the non-refundable Shipping and Handling Fee for your initial fourteen (14) day trial membership (”Trial Membership”) and you will receive a one (1) month supply of DazzlewhitePure^TM. If you do not cancel your Membership as set forth in Section 6 hereinbelow, and return the one (1) month supply at your expense, which must be received by us within fourteen (14) days of your receipt of the one (1) month supply of DazzlewhitePure^TM (”14 Day Trial Period”), your Active Credit Card will be charged the monthly Membership fee of Fifty-Eight Dollars and Seventy-Six Cents ($58.76) (”Monthly Fee”). Your first three (3) month supply of DazzlewhitePure^TM will be shipped thirty (30) days from the date that your initial one (1) month supply was shipped in connection with your Trial Membership. Thereafter, for as long as your Membership remains active, your Active Credit Card will be charged for the Monthly Fee on a monthly basis, plus Shipping and Handling, every third month, for your ongoing Membership. You hereby authorize DazzlewhitePure^TM (or its partners, affiliates and/or agents) to charge your Active Credit Card all such fees associated with Membership on a monthly basis. You acknowledge and agree that DazzlewhitePure^TM will not obtain additional authorization from you for each installment of Monthly Fees charged to your Active Credit Card. All Monthly Fees will appear on your Active Credit Card bill as “Internet Access Fee and Membership.” Orders outside of US pay an additional Nine Dollars and Ninety-Five Cents ($9.95) for shipping and handling.

Ebook access, insider secrets, and weight loss information? What does that have to do with trying a tooth whitener?  And why are consumers being charged for these things?

For the Smile Brite product, there are even more expensive surprises:

*MOUSE PRINT:

In the event you do not cancel within ten days after you order your trial product, you will be automatically enrolled in our convenient home delivery plan and your credit card will be charged $92.37. Thereafter, 30 days from your initial order, you will be billed the monthly charge of $92.37 each month when product is sent to you.

These are all negative option plans (like the old-fashioned book clubs).  If you don’t cancel during the trial period, you get automatic shipments of products and bills every month.  Some say there isn’t enough time to cancel before the costly shipments and billing begins.

And just to add insult to injury, there are dozens of these tooth whitening websites with what appear to be personal stories of female bloggers who found a miracle in a tube. And surprise, these sites are suspiciously similar to one another in content and format. Even the comments that appear on some of these websites seem to be fabricated.  Someone named “Patty” commented on “Rachel’s Teeth Whitening Success Blog” saying that she “never tried a teeth whitening kit before so I have high hopes based on your success”.  Funny thing, this Patty person seems to have visited a LOT of teeth whitening sites and made the same exact comment on blogs that touted the whitening success claimed by Sandy, Karen, Manda, Anna, Allie, Cathy, Molly, Holly, et al.

A word to the wise: stick with over-the-counter whiteners or professional whitening services performed by a dentist.

In an era of shrinking toilet paper rolls, candy bars, and ice cream containers, something unusual is going on at Costco. They have actually gotten some manufacturers to upsize their tuna cans.

Over the past decade or two, tuna cans have gone from 7 ounces to 6.5 ounces to 6.25 ounces to 6-1/8 ounces to 6 ounces and finally to 5 ounces last year. But look at the new Costco Kirkland brand cans:

*MOUSE PRINT:

They have gone up to 7 ounces, and so have Chicken of the Sea and Starkist brands sold at Costco. The increased size comes at an increased price, no doubt, but tuna cans are now back to their original size. It appears that Costco is the only seller of the new upsized cans.

In Costco’s monthly magazine, their consumer reporter touted the fact their tuna contains fewer fillers and less water than competitors.  She went on to say that you get triple the tuna in their 7-ounce can  (12 tablespoons) compared to the tuna found in some brands’ 5-ounce cans (4 tablespoons). She enlisted her husband to do the test, as noted in the box on the left.

How is it possible that the 7-ounce can of tuna can contains triple the amount of tuna of a 5-ounce can when it only contains two extra ounces of contents?  The answer is it can’t unless the brand name manufacturer is packing more ocean in its cans than tuna.

Our trusty mouse measured the amount of tuna in a 5-ounce can of Chicken of the Sea solid white tuna, first squeezing out the water, and found that it contained one-half cup, which is 8 tablespoons (not the four tablespoons that Costco claimed).

It is reasonable to believe Costco’s claim that its brand of tuna in 7-ounce cans contains 12 tablespoons of tuna (3/4 cup), if a 5-ounce can of other name brands contains 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup).  It is not however plausible that Costco’s brand contains triple the amount of tuna.  Two requests to Costco to comment on their claim went unresponded to.

Costco’s 7-ounce cans cost $1.50 each (in packs of eight), while sale prices for brand name tuna in 5-ounce cans are typically about a dollar.  That makes them just about equivalent.

If a butcher puts his thumb on the scale, you wind up paying for meat you never actually receive. 

Some chicken producers are now doing something similar when processing their chicken. On the left is a typical package of chicken you might find in any supermarket. It says “100% natural” breasts (with some rib meat).  You expect there to be nothing but chicken in the package in all likelihood. However, look at the fine print disclosure:
 

*MOUSE PRINT: “with up to 15% natural chicken broth.”  What’s that?  Primarily salt and water.  So you are really paying $3.99 a pound for the water that comprises 15% of the package weight.

Current labeling law still allows the chicken to be labeled “all natural” because water and salt are natural ingredients, irrespective of the fact that they are being injected into the birds to make them weigh more.

Makers of plumped chickens say the extra water and salt help make the chicken more moist and tender. While that may be true, they are not eager to tell you that a four-ounce serving of enhanced chicken may have eight times the chicken’s normal sodium content — equivalent to the salt in a large serving of fast food french fries.

For more information on plumped chickens, here is a recent LA Times article, a video on the plumping process from CBS News, and Foster Farms’ wonderfully clever website, “Say No to Plumping“.