The Brazilian fruit Acai berry has been marketed and used in a variety of “diet loss programs”. It comes in many forms, including juice, pulp, powder and capsule. It has been advertised all around the world as an anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and an anti-bacterial. The berry is also said to contain Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids, the likes of which have received a lot of press recently as being essential to the human body.
With all this media has come a variety of acai berry scams. Not only has the actual advantage/benefit of these berries been questioned, but there are now probably more scams (especially on the internet) for the pills than their are genuine offers.
Consumers have been warned to be extremely weary of these scams, that advertise on most internet sites, especially those that stream programs or live tv.
Companies offering “free trials” of the acai berry pills have ripped off thousands of consumers, especially by using fake celebrity endorsements and blogs to lure customers.
This is the way most of the acai berry scams work:
- The consumer is asked for his/her credit card details when signing up for the “free trial” - that way the company supposedly has you on record, and should you decide to continue with the pills, the company can bill you automatically. The also claim to use your details to pay your shipping and handling charges with.
- What actually happens is that once consumers have entered their details, the company then uses their information to almost immediately start charging anything between $80-$90 per month. Once these charges start, it is incredibly difficult (if not impossible) to stop these charges and regain your money.
The CSPI have actually stated that claims of weight loss are completely unfounded, and what these companies are doing are drawing on vulnerable women and men that are suffering with their weight, targeting their complexes in order to try and rip them off.
Jonny Bowden, a certified nutrition specialist has said:
“Virtually every berry — blueberry, strawberry, goji, acai — are anti-inflammatory and high in antioxidants,” Bowden said. “This particular one is exotic. It’s found in Brazil. It’s been marketed to have more of a magic ingredient. It’s been over-hyped and marketed to death. There are claims to curing cancer, curing baldness that is all over the place.”
Some places are selling acai bottles for as much as $40 a bottle. Take warning, when something seems like it’s too good to be true – it normally is – and no amount of money is going to make that change. Don’t let these false claims of “easy ways to lose weight, cure cancer” and whatever else these bogus companies are offering, impair your judgement to make rational decisions.
The only reason marketing scams like this acai berry scam work is because they play on people’s sensitivities, and often these people are desperate to find a “magic” answer.
In early 2008 the acai berry was discussed on the Oprah Winfrey show. However, no celebrities on that show have endorsed or promoted the product, yet companies are falsely using them as marketing tools. To prove her point, Oprah has filed a lawsuit against these companies in order to create publicity to the population to warn them against these companies.
If anyone has heard of, or fallen for the scams, it would be great to hear your experiences in the comments section.
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