| Kogod professors Mazis, Hastak find that when it comes to consumer
testimonials—results are typical BY MIKE UNGER We’ve all seen them. Advertisements in which an oh-so-lean man or a woman wearing a killer, form-flattering bathing suit touts the wonders of the latest magic weight loss pill or dietary supplement. What somehow manages to escape many eyes, however, is the disclaimer: “results not typical.” When it comes to consumer testimonials and disclaimers, nothing gets by Kogod School of Business professors Michael Mazis and Manoj Hastak. The two completed studies published by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last month that found while the public generally believes the testimonials of the endorsers, it tends to ignore the disclosure that invariably follows: “results may vary.” The FTC solicited the studies as part of a reexamination of its endorsement guidelines, which is now ongoing. “This issue of consumer testimonies is a practice that’s been growing in marketing,” Hastak said. “They’ve become ubiquitous. They’re particularly common in weight-loss products, business opportunities, and dietary supplements.” Mazis and Hastak found that more than half the subjects interviewed in a cross section of the country considered consumer testimonials to be efficacy claims. “A large majority of people seem to take away claims that the product will do for them what it did for the endorsers,” Hastak said. “We [also] tried the current disclaimer, ‘results not typical,’ and we tried much stronger disclaimers like ‘not likely to have similar results’ and ‘you should not expect to have similar results.’ Even these strongly worded disclaimers were not very effective in taking away people’s efficacy that was indicated in the testimonials.” Only one approach convinced people that they should not expect the same results being hailed by the endorsers. “If the disclaimer is specific, and gives them specific information, it does have an impact,” Mazis said. “If the disclaimer is, ‘Average weight loss is 10 pounds,’ people will tend to discount the testimonial because they’ve been given some specific information.” The professors hired a research firm to interview people for the studies in shopping malls throughout the nation. They created fictitious print ads for a weight loss product, a cholesterol-lowering dietary supplement, and a business opportunity. In one study 200 people were interviewed, in the other, there were 1,624 participants. Now that it has released them, the FTC will accept comments on the studies and other available research until March 19. While Mazis believes the studies are only one piece of a large body of information the FTC should examine when deciding whether to rewrite its endorsement guidelines, he also thinks their results speak volumes. “Clearly these studies indicate they should take a careful look at the policy, because the policy of ‘results may vary’ doesn’t appear to be working at all,” he said. The studies are available at the FTC Web site, www.FTC.gov. |
