Ashton Phillips / Nathan Gathright / Tiffany Burlingame / Shely Vargas / Estar Kanyua

Results May Vary

Product Summary:

•Hydroxycut products are popular dietary supplements

used for weight loss.

•Hydroxycut was linked to cases of liver damage.

•Other than the health risk, Hydroxycut products have

been linked to numerous false advertising campaigns.

Situation Summary:

•The company that markets the product claims that

“the supplement will help you lose unwanted body fat

and make you look ripped and lean.”

•On May 1, 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) issued a warning after they

noticed that some Hydroxycut products were being

linked to liver damage and had been the cause of one

reported death.

The Issues:

•This case teaches consumers about harmful products,

false claims. They provide the information to analyze

products and advertising more effectively.

•According to the Principles and Practices for

Advertising Ethics, “Advertising, Public Relations,

and Marketing Communications professionals have

an obligation to exercise the highest personal ethics

in the creation and dissemination of commercial

information to consumers.”

•The ethical issue is that Hydroxycut continually

pushed false advertising in order to gain profits.

Instead of simply advertising its product, they showed

unrealistic results, which over-glorified Hydroxycut in

order to push more units verses considering the

consumer’s best interest.

The problem:

•The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act

of 1994 (DSHEA) restricted the ability of the FDA

to regulate dietary supplements. The FDA plays no

role in ensuring that a dietary supplement works as

advertised. The FDA can only do something after a

product proves to be harmful.

•The Federal Trade Commission ( FTC) is responsible

for preventing unfair, deceptive, anticompetitive

business practices in the marketplace.

•The FDA issued a warning against the use of

Hydroxycut after it received 23 reports of serious

health problems.

•It’s Hydroxycut’s responsibility to ensure that its

product testing is conducted ethically, and that the

results are communicated properly.

Utilitarianism:

•Hydroxycut perpetuated a warped perspective on

body image. No one particular brand is responsible

for the unhealthy body image often found in our

culture, but companies should act responsibly when

addressing this topic in media. An ethical position

for Hydroxycut’s advertising would cause greater

happiness among more people and be for any

organization.

Communitarianism:

•If the manufacturer of Hydroxycut valued its

community of consumers, testing of ingredients to

insure safety would have been a prominent concern,

as well as creating advertisements that didn’t mislead

the consumer by giving them false information.

Moral Relativism:

•Moral relativism implies that if everybody else is doing

it, we might as well too. Under the theory of moral

relativism, the manufacturers of Hydroxycut practiced

ethical decision-making because their advertisements

and infomercials are as ludicrous as the other

weight-loss supplement ads.

Future Recommendations:

•Consumers need to be aware that the FDA doesn’t

regulate dietary supplements.

•Hydroxycut needs to advertise honestly without

promoting an unhealthy body image.

The End