uAd Watchdog: Dietary Supplement Claimed To Prevent Cancerr

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  (HealthGauge)

  Government regulation of the nutritional supplement industry is not perfect, but the Food and Drug Administration does impose a very important rule on them: products sold as supplements rather than drugs can’t advertise themselves as able to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any diseases. Once they do that, they’re drugs. Yet one supplement’s marketing caught the attention of two industry self-regulation bodies before the FDA: a supplement called “Big C” that totally does not promise to prevent cancer.

  The self-regulation body that called out this product was the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a trade association for makers of dietary supplements. They brought the product to the attention of the National Advertising Division, an ad self-regulation body run by the Council of Better Business Bureaus. CRN had a really important concern: this product’s marketing appears to say that it prevents cancer.

  Maybe it’s just a case of the marketing materials’ weasel words not being weasely enough, but the biggest problem is right there in the name: the product from All Health Systems is called “Big C,” and doesn’t even contain vitamin C. The name does imply that the product treats or prevents cancer, and the supplement-maker doesn’t present any proof that that it does.

  In the marketing materials cited by NAD, the company makes the following claims:

• “This is the most advanced product to help keep you your body stay in favorable conditions so that it may not get this terrible disease.”
• “Research the 16 ingredients, they all have shown different positive results in battling cancer in various lab studies and may help. In combination, this is ground breaking.”

• The problem is that while some ingredients might individually have an effect on cancer cells, that doesn’t mean that they do in combination after passing through the digestive system.

  What it does have is cayenne pepper, garlic oil, mushrooms, and turmeric, which sounds more like something I would have for lunch than a nutritional supplement.

  Fortunately, after being called out for problematic marketing by its own industry and the NAD, the maker of “Big C” promises to change the wording on the product’s page as soon as they regain access to their pages after a “malicious server issue.”

  NAD Recommends All Health Systems Discontinue All Challenged Claims for Company’s ‘Big C’ Supplement, Including Implied Cancer-Prevention Claims [NAD]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uPolice Arrest 3 Suspects In Restaurant Burglary After Finding A “Steady Trail Of Macaroni Salad”r

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  Not the macaroni salad in question. (Morton Fox)

  In the culinary justice system, restaurant thefts are not taken lightly. Luckily for the officers investigating a burglary at an Upstate New York establishment, there was a literal trail of evidence that wound up leading police to arrest three suspects.

  Deputies of the county sheriff’s office responded to a call from a restaurant early on Sunday morning, reports the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, after the owners reported that their surveillance system and the cash register were both gone.

  Undeterred by a lack of video evidence, police soon found cash register parts, surveillance systems bits and bobs, rubber gloves, loose change and “a steady trail of macaroni salad,” according to a news release issued by the office.

  “It was later discovered that the suspects stole a large bowl of macaroni salad, which they took turns eating, along their escape route,” the statement read, though it’s unclear exactly how far the trail went and if the suspects were found at the end of it like a human pot of gold.

  The three suspects were in custody that afternoon and were charged with third-degree burglary, third-degree criminal mischief and fourth-degree grand larceny. There were no charges specifically linked to wasting perfectly good macaroni salad by spilling it all over the place.

  Macaroni salad trail leads to arrest for 3 [Rochester Democrat & Herald]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uAmazon’s Stupid Shipping Gang Knows Exactly Where Your RAM Isr

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• The Stupid Shipping Gang is back to work at Amazon: indeed, it never left. The Stupid Shipping Gang are the people who package e-commerce items for shipping, using inappropriately large or excessive packaging. Matthew’s office ordered nine RAM modules for laptop computers…and received them in nine separate boxes.
  

  Here are a few reasons why they might not have fit all nine in one box:

• Some of them might have come from a different distribution center. This one is unlikely, but becomes more likely the more of the same item that you order.

• They wanted to keep track of all nine pieces. A kingpin of the Stupid Shipping Gang explained to us last year that online retailer want to keep track of their merchandise. “There are a lot of people out there who will try to say that you short shipped them and not pay,” he writes. “This gives [the retailer] something to fall back on.” If every one of those nine boxes was tracked individually to the customer’s doorstep, then it’s harder to claim that the box only contained eight.

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uNeiman Marcus, Nordstrom & Other Retailers Trying Out Smart Fitting Room Mirrorsr

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  (wEnDaLicious)

  Calling your friend into the fitting to ask how an outfit looks might soon be replaced by simply asking the mirror on the wall. Retailers like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, among others, are testing “smart” fitting room mirrors that not only suggest adding say, a statement necklace to that ensemble you’re trying on, but also get to collect information about your shopping habits much like online sites do.

  For example, when a shopper is browsing for clothing on say, Amazon.com and they’ve already got a pair of jeans in their shopping cart, they might see a suggestion for something else to go along with it.

  These fitting rooms could function much like that, reports the Associated Press, as well as provide side-by-side comparisons with video of the various looks you’ve tried on. Or you it could just overlay the shirt on your image so you wouldn’t even have to put it on. Other technology out there would allow customers to request or purchase directly from the mirror and have it shipped home.

  Along with helping shoppers achieve their ultimate outfit, retailers could collect data like online retailers do to analyze how customers make choices and how they shop. Executives say that shoppers would be offered the choice to opt-in to the smart mirrors, and any data collected is protected, the AP says.

  Neiman Marcus rolled out its MemoryMirror outside fitting rooms in three locations last year, and says it’s considering activating the “virtual dressing” feature.

  The company’s president of Neiman Marcus stores and online said the mirror lets the retailer get specific information for the first time ever on who exactly is trying on a dress and buying it. Customers must first register for a unique account associated with their email address to use the mirror’s features, and any data collected on the mirror’s usage is anonymous and aggregated, he said.

  Other stores are testing fitting-room technology from eBay that uses radio frequency identification that embeds data in clothing tags. Customers flip through a catalog on a touch screen and decide which items they want in the dressing room and then submits their phone number. A sales clerk texts when the fitting room is ready, and when the shoppers walks into the dressing area, the mirror recognizes the items and displays them on the screen.

  At Nordstrom, which is also working with eBay, customers are equipped with bar code scanning devices so they can see what’s in stock in the dressing area, and then show those items in the mirrors.

  “We will listen to the customer as they use the mirror and see what changes make sense to improve the experience,” a spokesman said.

  “Smart” fitting room mirrors boost sales [Associated Press]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uGM Ignition Switch Death Toll Reaches 100r

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  (Paul Pica)

  Nearly four months after General Motors’ victim compensation fund stopped accepting death and injury claims related to its massive ignition switch issue, the number of people killed because of the long-ignored defect continues to climb, now officially reaching triple-digits. 

  According to MLive.com, the compensation fund has thus far approved 100 death claims, up from 97 claims last week.

  The three-digit number is more than seven times as many victims as the car company originally acknowledged. For months after the ignition switch issue was finally made public, the automaker hesitated to concede that more than 13 deaths were related to the defect.

  That figure continuously came under fire from critics who said it only accounted for front seat passengers and cars involved in head-on crashes.

  In addition to the 100 approved death claims, compensation fund director Ken Feinberg says that 12 catastrophic injury claims, along with 172 less-serious injury claims, have been deemed eligible for compensation.

  A claimant isn’t required to accept an offer from the compensation fund, but if an offer is accepted, that claimant gives up their right to pursue any further related legal action.

  While the fund stopped accepting claim applications on January 30, the latest report from Feinberg shows that some 626 claims remain under investigation and 330 claims remain submitted without documentation.

  The fund, which GM estimates could cost nearly $400 million, includes other passengers in the vehicles, people in other vehicles and pedestrians injured or killed in the accidents.

  Approved death claims related to GM ignition switch recall rise to 100 [MLive]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uFTC Urges Michigan To Repeal Ban That Prevents Tesla From Selling Directly To Consumersr

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  (Nicholas Eckhart)
  

  Last year, Michigan joined the list of states that require car manufacturers to use dealerships to sell their vehicles, effectively banning Tesla from selling its pricey electric vehicles to Michigan residents. Now, staffers at the Federal Trade Commission are chiming in, urging Michigan lawmakers to consider repealing this ban.

  There is currently a piece of Michigan legislation, Senate Bill 268, that would grant makers of autocycles — think of a car and motorcycle combo and you’re on the right path — the ability to sell directly to consumers in some situations.

  The author of that bill, Sen. Darwin Booher, asked the Federal Trade Commission to submit comment on this legislation, and in a letter [PDF] sent last week from FTC staff to Booher, the agency gives its opinion that while the bill would likely promote competition and benefit consumers, it “does not go far enough.”

  By just carving out an exception for autocycles, the FTC staff says the new bill “would largely perpetuate the current law’s protectionism for independent franchised dealers, to the detriment of Michigan car buyers.”

  The FTC staff contends that consumers would more fully benefit from a “complete repeal of the prohibition on direct sales by all manufacturers, rather than the enactment of any limited, selective set of exceptions.”

  The letter makes no attempt to argue that dealerships are any better or worse for consumers than direct sales, instead claiming that “consumers are the ones best situated to choose for themselves both the vehicles they want to buy and how they want to buy them.”

  Before the 2014 law, car makers were already required to sell through licensed dealerships in the state. However, Tesla contended that this regulation only applied to manufacturers who were actually setting up their own showrooms and sales forces in Michigan. Since Tesla didn’t have anyone in the state selling their cars, which are primarily purchased online, it believed it was in compliance with the law.

  So, with the backing of the Michigan Auto Dealers Association, existing state law was amended to clarify that the dealership requirement applied to all car companies who sell, service, display or advertise vehicles in the state.

  Tesla founder Elon Musk has said he’s not averse to eventually using licensed dealerships to sell his vehicles.

  “At some point we’d consider franchised dealers but we want to first establish a few stores of our own,” he explained in January, adding that he’s reluctant to hand off his vehicles to third parties who may not be prepared to sell them. “It is hard to sell electric cars; it’s a lot more effort to sell it than a gasoline car. There’s a lot more education needed.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uGoogle Temporarily Shutting Down Editing In Map Maker After Incident With Urinating Robotr

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• After issuing a mea culpa over the image of an Android bot urinating on an Apple logo that popped up in Google Maps a few weeks ago, the company now it’ll be temporarily shutting down editing on Map Maker so it can deal with the problem of abuse.

  Though the Maps team has made “several changes” since the incident, spam in Map Maker edits has been climbing recently, team member Pavithra Kanakarajan wrote in a product forums post (via The Verge), and it’s too much for them to handle. As it stands now, every edit in Map Maker is reviewed manually, in what can only be a time-consuming process.

  To give the Google team time to catch up, the team is freezing all edits starting on May 12.

  “We believe that it is more fair to only say that if we do not have the capacity to review edits at roughly the rate they come in, we have to take a pause,” Kanakarajan wrote.

  It’s unclear when the tool will be live again, but she adds that it’s a “temporary situation and one that we hope to come out of as soon as possible.”

  Map Maker will be temporarily unavailable for editing starting May 12, 2015 [Google Product Forums]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist