Here are the times that companies completely lied to us!
Find out how Apple described the customers that believed their false advertising!
9 - Volkswagen TDI
What’s one easy way to charge more money to people concerned with the environment? Claim to make cars
that have clean diesel! This is what Volkswagen did with models that had a TDI engine, which is
basically a turbocharged diesel engine. Volkswagen charged people more for cars that supposedly had
clean diesel. Except they just decided to not come out with that actual technology?
Volkswagen purposely put in software that allowed their cars to cheat during its emissions testing!
Volkswagen installed this emissions cheating software on millions of their cars
worldwide. It allowed the car’s computer to sense the unique parameters of an
emissions test that’s set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
According to the EPA, these so-called “defeat devices”
detected steering, throttle, and other inputs specifically used during testing.
If the device detected these parameters, then it would switch the operating modes on the car!
In the testing mode, the cars would actually be fully compliant with all federal emissions levels.
But when the computer can tell it’s just being driven normally, the computer would just stay in
its normal mode. In the testing mode, the software significantly changes the way the car functions.
Essentially, the normal mode gave higher mileage and power at the expense of emitting
a lot more pollution. We’re talking pollution up to 40 times higher than the federal limit,
depending on someone’s driving style! Do we need to say the obvious that Volkswagen was sued?
Volkswagen has paid $23 BILLION dollars to resolve criminal charges and lawsuits in the US,
and $33.6 billion dollars so far overall! Do us a quick favor, and hit that like button down there!
8 - Skechers Shape-Ups Skechers made claims that their
goofy looking shoes called “Shape-ups” were a great way to get in shape.
Somehow the bottom of the shoes was able to help tone muscles and burn calories. Well,
don’t all shoes do that? The way they made their claims in their advertisements made people think
that Shape-up shoes would help people burn MORE calories walking than with a regular shoe.
But that wasn’t true at all! The Federal Trade Commission said that Skechers ads highlighted
fake clinical studies. One ad claimed that eight participants lost three and a quarter pounds on
average wearing Shape-ups for six weeks. But that study didn’t have a control group at all. Another
study claimed weight loss among Shape-up wearers, but some participants had actually GAINED weight!
The FTC said Skechers also “cherry-picked” the
results of one particular study. That study claimed that their shoes boosted
“muscle activation” when compared with regular running shoes. But that study was flawed too
because Skechers basically left out all the results that they didn’t like!
Skechers eventually agreed to pay 40 million dollars for their charges of false advertisement.
7 - Eclipse Gum Wrigley made the claim
that Eclipse Gum contained a natural ingredient that killed the germs that cause bad breath.
The Eclipse advertising campaign ran off the claim that most other gums just
mask bad breath, while theirs killed it! Nope, their gum didn’t do that at all!
Eclipse became one of the top selling gums of 2008 after Wrigley claimed they released a reformulated
version in the same year. Wrigley didn’t have scientific evidence to support their claims.
Their studies were performed in-house but there were plenty of design flaws in their testing.
In one study, for example, Wrigley didn’t bother to do
something as simple as comparing the results before people chewed their gum
and after they chewed their gum! They just decided to not do a control group!
Eventually Wrigley had to deal with a class-action lawsuit.
They didn’t admit to any wrongdoing, but they decided to settle.
They paid 6 million dollars into a fund to pay people that successfully filed a claim.
6 - Lifelock LifeLock is an
identity theft protection company that promised to protect your identity. In order to prove how well
Lifelock worked, they had commercials publicizing their CEO’s own social security number! Do you
remember these ads that were seen everywhere from park benches to billboards to TV commercials?!
CEO Todd Davis openly challenged hackers to use and steal his identity. He was soooo confident
in the fact they would never do it. The ads emphasized the Lifelock guarantee. LifeLock would
cover all losses and expenses up to $1 million dollars in case your identity was ever stolen!
Davis’ identity was used several times. One man in Texas used his Social Security
number to take out a $500 loan that ended up being handled by a collection agency. An At&T
phone account was opened in Georgia under his name and used to charge $2300 dollars.
After several lawsuits showed the inability of the company to follow through with its promises of
keeping identities safe, Davis responded that this only proved his company’s usefulness! He pointed
out that his own identity was stolen onnnnnnly 13 times despite it being advertised all over!
After a long legal battle, LifeLock was fined 12 million dollars by the
FTC for deceptive business practices AND for failing to secure sensitive customer data!
5 - Kashi Cereal All natural? What Kashi cereal really meant was
NOT at all natural! Kellogg, the maker of Kashi, was ordered to stop using the words "All Natural"
or "Nothing Artificial" labels on certain Kashi products. They did it as part of an agreement to
settle in a 5 million dollar class-action lawsuit over its “all natural” claims!
Kashi misled people by stamping the phrase "All Natural" or "Nothing Artificial" on
products that contained a variety of synthetic and artificial ingredients!
That’s….about as bad as it gets don’t you think?
In fact, Kashi’s shakes are composed of almost ENTIRELY synthetic and unnaturally
processed ingredients! The FDA DOESN’T have an official definition for the word "natural”.
But the FDA HAS stated that it doesn’t object to using the word “natural”
if the food doesn’t contain added color, artificial flavors or synthetic substances.
4 - Vibram Fivefingers Remember when it seemed like so many people wore
these barefoot shoes? Vibram deceived consumers by advertising that their fivefingers footwear could
reduce foot injuries and strengthen foot muscles. Vibram never conducted any sort of studies. They
just decided to make the claims anyways! A class-action lawsuit was filed against Vibram.
The lawsuit cites a study by the American Council on Exercise. They
found that “heel-to-toe” runners who failed to change their running style while wearing
the FiveFingers had actually INCREASED their discomfort and risk of injury!
According to the researchers, people need very explicit instruction and time
spent practicing how to land on the balls of their feet while running. Simply switching to
Vibrams didn’t guarantee a person was going to reduce their foot injuries. But the question
is this. Even if wearing Vibrams AND changing running styles worked to reduce foot injuries,
how would someone be able to figure out how much it was the Vibrams that made a difference?!
Vibram never admitted lying. Instead, they just went ahead and settled the lawsuit to avoid future
legal costs! The company set up a $3.75 million settlement fund for anyone who bought their shoes.
3 - Apple iPhone 3G Remember the time when
Apple claimed that the iPhone 3G was twice as fast and half the price as the original iPhone?
NEITHER of those claims were true! The iPhone 3G wasn’t half the price nor twice as fast
as the original iPhone. So William Gillis decided to sue Apple for their false claims.
What did Apple say? Well, some parts of Apple's 32-point rebuttal
say that the company was being truthful. But basically they sum it all up when one paragraph
basically said that anyone who believed what they say in its ads isn’t a reasonable person.
Is this Apple’s way of saying anyone who believed them is dumb?
Let us know what you think in the comments!
2 - Subway Footlong The $5 dollar footlong was
a promotion that just made sense. 5 bucks for a sub that’s a footlong? It doesn’t get much
cheaper than that for lunch! The problem was, the sub wasn’t actually a foot long.
Subway’s subs consistently measured up short! This legendary promotion with the jingle was
the brainchild of clever Subway franchise owner, Stuart Frankel. It was first started in 2004
when he was trying to rev up weekend sales for one of his stores. That store had great sales
during the week, but when the weekend came along….not so much. So he decided to offer
footlong subs at the nice, round price of $5, tax included. Weekend sales started to skyrocket.
Eventually, corporate headquarters took notice and implemented the promotion nationally.
Subway sold BILLIONS of dollars worth of sandwiches off the $5 dollar footlong
promotion alone! But some customers began noticing that the footlongs weren’t exactly a foot long!
In 2013, Subway went to court over claims of false advertising.
Ten people from New Jersey demanded in a lawsuit that Subway give
actual sandwiches that measured 12 inches, or don’t advertise 5 dollar footlongs.
Subway claimed that the word footlong was quote “just a word" and not an exact measurement.
Attorneys measured 17 sandwiches from local New Jersey Subway restaurants,
and none of them measured a foot! Subway had to pay ONLY roughly half a million dollars in lawyer
fees for the guys that sued. The guys that sued Subway got 500 bucks a piece! Their own attorney
stated quote, "It was difficult to prove monetary damages, because everybody ate the evidence."
1 - Made in the USA
Where something is made seems like it’s always going to be a tricky loophole. Americans in
general DO want products made in the USA. The big problem? They still want it to be the same price.
So companies are in a catch-22. And some just…..lie. For example, Nectar
Sleep is a company founded by entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. They promoted their beds
as designed and assembled in the USA. Their bed was found to be made entirely in China!
Patriot Puck makes a hockey puck that’s marketed as quote,
“The Only American Made Hockey Puck!”. All the pucks were imported from China!
The curious thing is, the Federal Trade commission didn’t fine them or require them to notify any
of their customers! Here’s what’s next!