Imagine you've worked hard over a long period of time to lose weight. You're proud of your hard-earned progress, so you post "before" and "after" photos of yourself on Facebook. Next thing you know, those very same photos are appearing in ads for diet pills -- pills you've never even heard of, let alone taken. "Lose weight fast!" the ads promise. WTF?!?
It happens. Those weight-loss ads with the "before" and "after" photos that look almost too good to be true usually aren't true at all. They're stolen, air-bushed, you name it. The blatant lies and trickery of weight loss ads are astounding -- and they were exposed by The Today Show recently.
Stealing people's personal photos to promote products the subjects never used is just one of the tricks. Some companies will take a photostock image and digitally manipulate it to fake a person's "amazing" weight loss. Or they'll photograph someone in different poses using different lighting.
Personal trainer Andrew Dixon showed how he gets into amazing shape in a matter of seconds. "I just slouch down, let my gut hang out, and I haven't shaved yet, so I have no definition," he says. A shave, better posture, better-fitting shorts, and better lighting all make him look like a total hunk.
Welcome to what the Federal Trade Commission says are the most reported frauds: Weight loss ads. I'm sure there are some legit ones out there, but the fakers run rampant across the Internet. (Psst, you have to see this ONE WEIRD TRICK FOR FLAT ABS! It's called being young, eating right, and exercising...)
How many people actually fall for these ads? You really have to wonder. I think most of us would claim we can sniff out the fake ads. Well, no one wants to admit they've ever been fooled.
I guess it's the same ol' same ol' we always hear. When it comes to your health, if someone is trying to sell you a quick or easy fix, it's probably a scam. Almost everyone in the world would love it if the right tea or the right pill could make you skinny without any dangerous side-effects. But there ain't no such magic pill, my friends. You still have to get those amazing abs the hard way.
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Have you ever clicked on a weight-loss ad on the Internet?
Image via The Today Show