Everyone has probably seen the commercials for Airborne — the cold remedy “developed by a school teacher who was sick of catching colds in class and on airplanes.”
Clearly, this sounds like a product that one would take to prevent catching a cold.
Even their website back in 2001 gave that impression and more:
“Crowded environments like Airplanes, Offices, and Schools are spawning grounds for germs that cause colds and sickness! AIRBORNE’S unique natural formula of seven Herbal Extracts, Antioxidants, Electrolytes, and Amino Acids, offers maximum vitamin and herbal protection for hours! Plus its natural ginger component helps fight nausea caused by motion sickness. Take at the first sign of a cold symptom or before entering crowded, potentially germ-infested places! [It then quotes a user as saying:] A miracle cold buster!”
And a few years later they touted the results of a clinical trial on their website.
*MOUSE PRINT: Though there is page after page of mumbo jumbo, it does suggest a reduction in symptoms by those who took Airborne. However, only 48 people actually took the product.
Fast forward to 2006. ABC reported that Airborne’s clinical trial was conducted neither by scientists nor doctors, but rather by two guys hired to conduct this particular test. The company then dropped references to it on its website.
Fast forward again to 2008. Airborne just settled a class action lawsuit claiming that the company misrepresented the product, and it agreed to pay over $23 million back to purchasers. [Get claim form here.]
The settlement agreement is lacking at least one key provision, however:
*MOUSE PRINT: There is no requirement that they refrain from making unsubstantiated claims in the future.
August 2008 Update: The FTC just entered into a settlement with the company to prevent them from making unsubstantiated health claims in the future, and to pay a total of $30 in settlement to aggrieved purchasers.
I fly often and never bought Airborne because I figured it was one of those ‘gotcha’ products. I try to stay away from those ‘natural products’ since the only thing that they ever seem to get rid off is my money!
Effin lawyers. I like Airborne, and it seems to alleviate my symptoms. Just like Smoke-away which lawyers litigated away it seems that this product may be forced away by **** lawyers.
I agree that the words and information Airborne has used to sell it’s product can be challenged. However, I personally love how much the product has helped me either to prevent or rid a cold so much faster as compared to the days before I discovered it…that I refuse to take part in this settlement. It’s only going to raise the cost to the consumer who believes in the product and will continue to use it.
I wonder how many purchaser will ever see any money back. Since you need to prove you bought it, how many people have kept their receipts for it. This is another of those large claim awards that the lawyers come away with most of it.
I swear by Airborne – it is an excellent, one-of-a-kind product. It’s easy to use and it works! I will continue to buy it and I won’t be taking part in the lawsuit.
no worse than those medications “approved” by the FDA. This is just big-pharma getting mad at the little guy for not playing by their “rules”. This same type of bull is being used on Vitamin C and Vitamin E. NOTHING can fully prevent anything, NOTHING. But big business doesn’t see it that way, only their method is full proof. I have never tried a big-pharma product and been wow’d by the results. When the flu hits me, it last just as long whether I take meds or not. The big difference in recovery time is usually getting my vitamins and rest, rest, rest. This lawsuit is rediculous…
I am amazed that all the prior comments are in shock that Airborne is being attacked.What about the fact that as consumers we were decieved. If one of the big companies had “hired” researchers, we would be furious…why is this so different? And to not take part in the settlement is not gonna help the company, the lawsuit has already been lost..it just means the money will be split between less people..more money for those that were smart enough (or angry) to take part in the settlment.
Well matt, so you think that anyone should be allowed to market any product, with any claim and not be required to back it up? Bet you think that “BIG Pharma” charges so much for their products because they are lining their pockets as well. For your information it’s not true, they must charge enough to recoup the millions that they spend on MANDATED testing before they are allowed to sell said products. So how “fair” is it to mandate testing for some companies, but let others sell their stuff with no evidence to back up their claims? Large pharmaceutical companies did not make this rule, the FDA did. but they must abide by it, and so should any company selling “cures” regardless of how “big” they are.
The law in this country is simple, if you market a product that claims to “cure or fix†an illness or medical condition you MUST provide scientific evidence that backs up your claim. Big company or small, the same rules apply, don’t like it? Then take some initiative to get the law changed, don’t just sit and complain.
There have lately been commenters disagreeing with what MousePrint is saying. I have a couple theories about who these people are:
1) Getting paid by the company that MousePrint is writing about.
2) Jokesters, just trying to annoy people.
3) People who are insane. You have got to be crazy to ignore facts to the extent these people are.
I think you log the IP addresses of comment posters. If the posts were coming from the company we would be able to find out. Although I’m against censoring them just because they are idiots, I think it’s okay to publish the IP.
Edgar replies: I agree that some comments take very pro-company positions, but I cannot say these people are shills.
Tom S. says: “Bet you think that “BIG Pharma†charges so much for their products because they are lining their pockets as well. For your information it’s not true, they must charge enough to recoup the millions that they spend on MANDATED testing before they are allowed to sell said products.”
Big Pharma also has to recoup the BILLIONS it spends on advertising! Somehow, it must be working for them though. They still have enough money for graft, er, I mean gifts, to all the doctors.
Airborne: I’ve never used it, so I can’t say if I like it or not. If they say they conducted a clinical trial and they did not, that’s false advertising. It’s very misleading today with all the tricky wording of the herbal medicine industry. I wonder how many folks know that a claim like “supports a healthy immune system” is totally meaningless.
“natural” remedies are the basis for any medicine you currently take. That aspirin? Yeah, willow tree bark. Natural remedies were the first medicines and they are effective. I’m not being “pro-company” here. I’m pro-natural. Do some research, natural products work.
Yes, willow bark is the ‘original source’ of aspirin. But, just because something is “natural” doesn’t mean it works or is safe. I can walk out in my backyard and find Sofora secundiflora seeds that are deadly. (Look it up on Wikipedia.) Or, look at all the people taking saw palmetto or echinacea. When well controlled, double blind studies are conducted, these things were shown to be ineffective. Big Pharma is not off the hook – they have conducted studies that they haven’t reported because the test didn’t come out ‘right’ and there have been example of the under reporting of side effects. They sold cold medicines to kids that just don’t do anything and may cause harmful side effects. And they sold hormone replacement therapy to women for decades!!
I am not pro or anti natural products or big pharma. I just want things labeled correctly with their contents, I want good scientific studies done, and the results and all side effects to be well reported.
(Way off topic here, I believe the best “pharmacy” is diet. Cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. are all best treated with a diet full of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, and seeds & nuts. Stay far away from processed food! Can’t get any more ‘natural’ than that!)
It’s simple: If it doesn’t have the “drug information” box, it’s not a real drug. That is, it hasn’t been approved by the FDA, and there’s no evidence (unless you’re fond of “anecdotal evidence”) that it works. It should have something like this:
http://www.intelihealth.com/i/L/Label.gif
If it’s not a real drug, it’ll have something like this instead:
http://www.remediesdirect.com/media/headers-disclaimer.jpg
Thanks for the business lesson Tom. It’s good thing we have the FDA watching over us or we could be getting prescription drugs that lead to increased heart attacks and strokes or adult medicines designed and marketed towards children. It’s also a good thing that companies with deep pockets can’t get their products steam-rolled through “mandated” testing either…but don’t take it from me, I’m just a complainer. I never use my buying power as a way to show my support, or lack there of, for products and services.
I have taken airborne with great results. At the first sign of a cold, strange feeling or throat tickle I take it. The cold either never takes hold, or if it does the symptoms are either very mild or the majority of them absent. It may be the zinc and ecchinacea in the product, whatever it is, it is no placebo and works great for me.
this stuff works if cycled on and off. if you keep using it, your body gets used to the ingredients’ potency
The ingredients in Airborne are not substantially different from those in a competing product, Emergen-C. I’ve compared them side by side, and the major difference is Airborne’s inclusion of Vitamin A. Aside from that, if you’re taking B-Complex and Vitamin E you’re pretty much even.
Emergen-C doesn’t make wild claims, or put forth fluff about how it was “developed by a school teacher†yada yada. On the packet’s front it includes the standard disclaimer (asterisk provided) to its one bit of hype, “Super Energy Booster.” “Not evaluated by the FDA, not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”
Those of us who take vitamins and supplements generally know what works for us and what doesn’t. For instance, echinacea has been widely poo-pooed by the medical and drug establishments, but I can guarantee you it’s worked for me time and time again. Ditto golden seal powder, ginseng and comfrey. But that’s me, and nobody’s hyped me into taking (or over-spending for)those remedies.
If nothing else, the lesson in Airborne’s over-zealous marketing, and subsequent dope slap by the FTC, is that unconventional treatments and remedies always run the risk of being challenged by those with competing dollar interests. (Though CSPI could hardly be considered “Big Pharma.”) That being said, it’s ridiculous to overpay for something like Airborne (10 tabs for ~$7) when you can by an 80-packet box of Emergen-C at Costco for 15 bucks.