In 2022, the Consumer Watchdog Nonprofit Group Truth in Advertising filed a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau against Juice Plus, a multi-level marketing company that sells supplements.

The nonprofit claimed that Juice Plus had been making deceptive and unsubstantiated claims for years,

for instance, saying its products can protect against everything from COVID to cancer.

This wasn't the first time. Truth in Advertising complained year after year, going back to 2016

and continuing into 2023.

How have regulators responded?

In 2020, the Federal Trade Commission issued a warning letter to Juice Plus for unlawfully

advertising that his product can treat or prevent COVID, and also for misrepresenting that

those who join their multi-level marketing scheme would

likely earn substantial income.

You can totally advertise that your product can prevent or treat any disease, including

COVID, if you can provide evidence to substantiate your claim, but there was no such study

for Jews Plus.

And the company also had to immediately cease making false and misleading earnings claims. In 2023, the Better Business Bureau

published its report, saying it is incumbent on the company to provide reliable and competent

scientific evidence to support its claims, to which Juice Plus reply that its claims

are based on not one, not two, but 40 peer-reviewed scientific publications, and invited

the Better Business Bureau to check out its website.

And presumably, to its dismay, the Better Business Bureau actually did.

Of course, even if a company has valid studies, that doesn't mean those studies actually

support the claims being made.

For example, it says its product helps with depression and mood, but there weren't any

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