Marketing Lies

What you see might not be what you get. Marketing companies misrepresent, or out right lie to get your hard earned money. Here are just a few of the times people were promised far more than they received.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Are you Are you coming to the truth? Well, Shungama,
who will say she murdered? True, Joe, things have happened
that mass Jones, Mama them holland true.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Welcome to the show. I'm your host, Chris James. I
know somewhere out there some wild man has come up
with beef flavored coffee. I say, nay, nay, I only
drink the best coffee in the universe, which is found

(00:57):
at four or five zero one Macpheerson, the Organic Man
Coffee Strike. Coffee makes the world go around, and the
best coffee keeps us all from falling off. Any day now,
I expect to find Anna Belle Lee in my studio.

(01:22):
She has become unemployed here lately. Trailer Trash Terrors is mia,
so are several of my favorite podcasts. It's gotten a
point I'm having to look for new people to listen to. Hint, hint,
Come on, guys. David Elliott, the guy who sent me

(01:46):
the art Bell Coffee Cup, asked if I would do
a show about marketing lies a things those people promise
while delivering something far less. In the nineteen seventies, we
were bombarded with a song to all beef patties special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles,

(02:16):
onions on a sesame seed bun. Now, I tried searching
for the actual ingredients of their meat and found a
lot of folks all saying the same thing, all beef.
I did every combination of words to sort out the truth.
But I guess the big bucks have decided what is

(02:40):
the truth. I asked folks my age, and they all
remember hearing things about additives that were far from being beef.
That is what I remember from back then, and surprisingly
there's a lot of folks who agree with me. The

(03:01):
old beef patties contained kangaroo meat as well as other
dead animals. There was a lot of soy mixed in
to make the meat go further. This is what I heard.
This is what a lot of other people heard. I
have no proof because the public began to question the

(03:26):
all beef claim. It was changed to all meat when
the question of how much soy was being mixed in.
They dropped the commercial altogether. Like I said, this is
how I remember it. That was the seventies. I remember

(03:49):
the all beef patties and Watergate, A couple of rather
large lies where's the beef first came to the public
audience in an American television commercial for the Wendy's Hamburger

(04:09):
restaurant in nineteen eighty four. The strategy behind the campaign
was to distinguished competitors you can fill in the names
for yourself big name hamburgers like the Big Mac and
the Whopper from Wendy's single by focusing on the large

(04:30):
bun used by the competitors and the large beef patty
used by Wendy's. In the ad titled Fluffy Bun, an
elderly woman played by actress Clara Peller receives a burger
with a large bun but the comically small patty, a

(04:54):
fictional competitor, of course, which used the slogan home of
the Big Bun. The small Patty angers the woman who exclaims,
Where's the Beef. Joe Seidelmeyer, who directed the commercial, wanted

(05:15):
her to say where is all the beef, but Peller
was unable to say the original line due to having emphysema.
I think the way she said it was perfect. Kids
were yelling the phrase all over town, especially as walking

(05:36):
past Mickey Di's. The commercial was originally supposed to star
a young couple, but Seidelmeyer did not find the concept funny,
and he changed it to an elderly woman once more.
This was probably what made the commercial stick in people's minds.

(05:59):
Sequels featured Peller yelling at a fluffy Bun executive on
board his yacht she'd gotten him on the phone. In
another commercial, Peller is seen approaching fast food drive up
windows at the home of the Big Bun, a restaurant
with one golden arch. The drive up window gets slammed

(06:24):
as shut before she can complete the line. Later nineteen
eighty four, Nashville songwriter DJ McLeod wrote and performed the
hit song Where's the Beef as a promotion for Wendy's restaurant.

(06:45):
There are no websites telling how many drive throughs had
to contend with customers asking the question, but knowing the
folks I used to hang out with, it must have
been a few hundred. I knew people that would go
to McDonald's in order a whopper things like that. Wendy's

(07:10):
dropped the ball when a cow named Darcy walked away
from a dairy farm and showed up outside of McDonald's
drive through window. The McDonald's in Brush, Colorado had a surprise.
When Darcy walked up to the drive through window and
bumped the glass with her head, it appeared as she

(07:33):
just wanted some attention. Darcy did make it home safely
without the help of her owners, but it appears she
isn't the first cow to visit a Mickey D's. Wendy's
should have done whatever it took to get their hands
on that video and maybe even the cow. They could

(07:56):
have played Peller's voice as the cow was bumping up
against the window. It's kind of like seeing a chicken
walking into Chick fil A or Colonel Sanders. The advertising
campaign ended in nineteen eighty five after Peller performed in

(08:17):
a commercial for Brago Pasta sauce where all she said
was I found it. I really found it. Finally answering
the question as to where's the beef, she didn't say

(08:37):
where's the beef, She just said she had found it.
There were many Wears the Beef promotional items, including bumper stickers, Frisbees,
clothing patches, and a Milton Bradley board game, which I
have no idea how that would work. I guess you
ran around the board looking for the beef. Twenty eleven

(09:03):
Wendy's revived the phrase for a new ad campaign of
finally answering its own question with here's the Beef. During
the Black Plague of twenty twenty, when stores were having
a hard time getting hold of anything, they tried the

(09:23):
ad campaign once more. The twenty twenty three Daytona five
hundred Legacy motor club driver Noah Gregson was sponsored by Wendy's,
driving car number forty two, a Chevy Camaro with the

(09:44):
beef written on the hood. The woman that made the
question famous was named Clara Peller, who was born Rocha
Swidlova in Pulask, Imperial Russia, August fourth, nineteen oh two.

(10:04):
She became a manicurist and later a television personality when
in her eighties, she starred in the nineteen eighty four
Where's the Beef? Advertising campaign. Appellar continued to make the
most of her newfound fame, granting numerous press interviews and

(10:24):
making several guest appearances. She regularly told interviewers and friends
that she didn't know exactly how old she was. One time,
she told a Social Security clerk that she didn't have
an exact date of birth, but that they should just

(10:46):
assign her whichever one would get her social Security. Some
folks might think, having become popular and somewhat wealthy, why
would she want Social Security? If you work in the
United States, they have been taking Social Security out of

(11:07):
your paycheck the entire time. It's your money. The government
is simply holding it for you until you qualify to
get it back. And never mind all the hair brain
schemes those folks in Washington used as an excuse to

(11:27):
steal more of our money. It used to be like
putting your money in a bank account. Once you reached
a certain age, an age that keeps getting farther away,
you get the money back, hopefully. Peller also made an
appearance in a low budget nineteen eighty five Neil Israel

(11:50):
comedy called Moving Violations, which Yes, I saw it. The
advertisement for the movie simply showed Pell driving around in
a car on her runway. She was also in Larry
Cohen's The Stuff. She appeared in Abe Vagoda in a

(12:11):
commercial in the Remote Control Man episode of Steven Spielberg's
show Amazing Stories, and she had a cameo as a
disgruntled motorist. April seventh, nineteen eighty six, she made an
appearance at WrestleMania two in Chicago Rosemont Horizon, where she

(12:35):
was the guest timekeeper for the twenty man Invitational Over
the Top Rope Battle Royale involving wrestlers and NFL players.
I missed that one. Peller died August eleventh, nineteen eighty seven,
in Chicago, one week after her eighty fifth birthday. She

(13:00):
had justive heart failure. She is buried at the Wildheim
Jewish Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois. If you want to
go by and pay your respects, this phrase where's the beef?
Is right up there with saying let's go no, I'm

(13:24):
not going to say it. Probably not a good idea.
Google doesn't have a sense of humor. When somebody tells
you something that you know or suspect is a total
load of who you now know? What to say? Let's go? No? No,

(13:46):
where's the beef? Truth and advertising rules require that advertisements
must be truthful, not misleading, and when appropriate by scientific evidence.
As enforced by the Federal Trade Commission the FTC, advertisements

(14:11):
must be truthful and cannot contain false or misleading statements.
This applies to all forms of advertising, including print, online,
and broadcast. When making claims about a product or a service,
advertisers must have adequate substantiation. This means that claims should

(14:35):
be supported by reliable scientific evidence, especially when relating to health, safety,
or performance. Advertisements must not omit information that is material
to the consumer's decision to purchase a product. This includes

(14:56):
any information that could influence a consumerumer's choice. The FTC
defines an advertisement as unfair if it causes substantial injury
to consumers that is not outweighed by benefits. This includes
practices that may exploit Sorry about that, I seem to

(15:20):
have a frog? What do they call it a frog?
I guess because you croak when you speak. This includes
practices that may exploit vulnerable populations or mislead consumers. The
FTC is the primary federal agency responsible for enforcing truth

(15:43):
in advertising laws. It monitors advertising practices and can take
action against companies that violate these rules, including issuing fines
and requiring corrective advertising. The Truth in Advertising Act makes
it illegal to lie in advertising. A business advertising that

(16:08):
it will sell a certain item for a certain price
is a lie unless they have the actual item available
for sale and for that stated price. Such an ad
would be illegal if not a lie, but through deception.
I used to shop at the Seer's store here because

(16:31):
it was close to my house, and in other towns
they always had what I needed. Here in Laredo. They
would show pictures of tool sets with so many of
each item and spread out and looking really cool. Nowhere
on the shelf could I find the items that were

(16:53):
on display? I asked one of the sales clerks, and
I was told that particular tool set is not available
in Laredo. It has to be ordered. Nowhere on the
sign did it say it needed to be ordered. There
was a shipping charge as well. That cool set wasn't

(17:16):
so cool after all, it was nearly twice as much
as it was advertised for. Eventually, I just stopped going
to Sears, and apparently so did everybody else. This was
the same Seers where the Little Girl used to hang out.

(17:37):
False advertising, but hey, this was Laredo and they were
kind of in their own set of rules. When the
Truth and Advertising Act became a law, Congress gave themselves
a loophole. Basically, they said politicians can lie to us,

(17:57):
because well, that's if we lie to Congress, we go
to jail. If Congress lies to us, it's just politics.
In April, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that politicians can

(18:17):
lie during political campaigns. In Susan B. Anthony List versus Dryhouse,
the Court ruled politician's right to lie during a campaign
is protected under the free speech provision of the First Amendment,

(18:38):
so they have the right to lie. In that case,
Susan B. Anthony List, a pro life group, tried to
erect billboards during a congressional campaign accusing incumbent Steve Dryhouse
of supporting tax payer funded abortions because he voted in

(18:59):
favor of the Affordable Care Act. Dryhouse objected, filing a
complaint under an Ohio law that prohibited false statements during
a political campaign. His complaint cited the fact that since
nineteen seventy six, the High Amendment has prohibited the use

(19:21):
of federal funds to pay for abortions, even though it
was included in the Affordable Care Act. That's just how
it is. After losing the election, Dryhouse withdrew his complaint,
but the SBA List pursued a separate suit that challenged

(19:46):
the Ohio law, claiming it violated the First Amendment right
to free speech. Two lower courts ruled the group could
no longer pursue the challenge because the election was over
and there was no longer basis for sufficient immunity perjury

(20:07):
oh sorry, imminent perjury if yeah. And it was those
lower court decisions that the Supreme Court unanimously reversed, thereby
establishing the precedent allowing lying in a campaign. Though what

(20:28):
they're telling us is a politician can come out and
say anything they want to get elected. Doesn't that just
make you feel warm all over? There's only been one
presidential candidate who has done what he said he was
going to do well except for locking up that one

(20:51):
person in jail. But well, that's another story. Lying is
a form of sales that can be found. Way back
in time, during the Civil War, a company was able
to sell boots to the Union army. The boots lasted
weeks until the souls fell off. The company said, oh,

(21:14):
those boots were meant for the cavalry, not the infantry.
In the early twentieth century, before people were aware of
the lasting effects of cigarettes, many people, including doctors and children,
were partial to a good puff of smoke. Now and then,

(21:35):
now we know the cigarettes can do harm to your health.
It's not so much the tobacco, it's what the companies
have been adding all kinds of chemicals to the products
that make them more addictive. They also add things that
make the tobacco burn. If you don't keep puffing on

(21:57):
a cigar, it goes out. But a cigarette, if you
light it, it just keeps burning because chemicals, and just
think you're pulling those chemicals inside your body. Multiple companies
such as Asthma Cigarettes, Pall Mall, and Big Tobacco made

(22:20):
impressive claims about their products. They said their cigarettes were
good for your health and would reduce the chance of
bronchial infections, and some doctors even endorsed these products. Listen
to the science. Remember that phrase, Oh wait, that was

(22:43):
more recently, wasn't it. Though this may have reflected the
beliefs at the time. When science brought to life the
health determins of smoking, the companies quickly dropped those ads.
It's funny how the science will support one idea and
then it'll support the other side of the idea. Remember

(23:06):
when eggs, eggs were bad for you? Oh my god,
don't eat eggs. Now, all of a sudden, it's like
it's the incredible edible egg. They used to say milk
was bad for us, Well, milk is not bad for you,
depending on which scientists you listen to. A nineteen forty

(23:30):
six advertisement for camel cigarettes claimed that doctors preferred the
brand in a supposedly independent survey, which was revealed to
have been conducted by an ad agency using suspected methods.
The cigarette commercial showed actors addressed as doctors puffing on

(23:52):
cigarettes in between house calls. Even at the time there
was substantial evidence that cigarettes could be bad for you.
Some viewed the use of doctors to imply their health
a particularly despicable act of deceptive advertising. Some folks are

(24:13):
really cheap to an excess. In nineteen eighty eight, when
we were at the academy, I smoked. I smoked because
it was a stressful environment and smoking was a kind
of a crutch that seemed to help. Some of my
classmates were too cheap to buy their own cigarettes, so

(24:35):
they would bum them off of those of us who
were shelling out our own hard earned money in order
to feed their addiction. To stop this activity, I began
smoking camel filterless. They would make their heads they would
make your head spin. Nobody wanted to bum cigarettes off

(24:58):
of me after that. Funny thing is I was the
second fastest runner in my class. I ran, and I smoked.
At least I didn't smoke while running. In the nineteen forties,
doctor William Frederick Kotch claimed he had invented a drug

(25:22):
that could cure all human ills, which he called gliooxalide.
It would fix everything from tuberculosis and cancer to STDs.
A lot of desperate people bought his medication hoping for
a cure. Over three thousand health practitioners around the US

(25:46):
stocked the treatment and charged patients anything up to three
hundred dollars for a single dose, that is seven thousand
dollars in today's money. Suspicious government chemists began testing this drug,

(26:08):
and they discovered that Katcha's a so called glyoxalide, was
in fact distilled water. The doctor fled to Riodesianeiro not
long after, so he was never prosecuted, but the drug
was classified as a fraud by the FDA, finding that

(26:30):
they finally did something. American pharmaceutical company Bayer advertised that
their vitamins could prevent prostate cancer in men due to
an ingredient called selenium back in two thousand and nine.
Although selenium is very effective inviting stress and boosting the

(26:54):
immune system, there's no proof that it has anything to
do with preventing prostate cancer. A Beayar was sued due
to the radio and television ads that made these claims,
and they had to pay four point four to seven
million dollars to Illinois, California, and Oregon where the victim

(27:19):
where the vitamin vitamins had been highly marketed. Acetasilic acid ooh,
that sounds kind of deadly, kind of like LSD. Acetasilic
acid is a derivative of salicilic acid, a commonly used

(27:42):
pharmaceutical agent for over hundreds even thousands of years. The
primary use of salicilic acid came from these Samerians who
discovered an analgesic property of the willow plant around four
thousand BC. The analgesic and antipyretic effects of the willow

(28:05):
leaves were known among the Assyrians and the Egyptians. In
eighteen twenty four, all bioactive components of willow bark were
completely extracted by two Italian pharmacists, and four years later
the main component of willow salasin was isolated. In eighteen

(28:31):
ninety seven, Felix Hoffmann, a German chemist, modified the chemical
structure of silicilic acid to synthesize a derivative that didn't
have all the nasty side effects. Ultimately, by acediciling the
silicilic acid, he developed something he called aspirin. He took

(28:58):
his new found medicare to the Bayer Drug Company and
he tried to sell it to them as they looked
at his new drug and said, Nay, we don't want that.
Aspirin is too prone to addiction, not effective enough, and
we've already come up with a new medication. This new

(29:22):
medication will cure addiction, relieve all sorts of illnesses, from
heart trouble to teething pain. It is so good we're
going to name it heroine. It's the hero of all drugs.

(29:42):
A recent study by one of the universities involving pain
medication has found that aspirin was as effective, if not
more so, than ninety five percent of the patent drugs
being marketed today. Plus aspirin was safer to use than

(30:04):
all the other drugs. The study has hidden away because
aspirin is no longer able to be copywritten by the
drug manufacturers. This is a form of lying through omission.
They claim their new drugs will alleviate pain, while at
the same time you might grow a tail or your

(30:28):
heart might explode. Aspirn is not mentioned by most doctors.
You remember the old thing. Take to Aspurn and call
them in the morning. They don't say that anymore. Baseball
player Steve Garvey was hired by Informa Natural Products Inc.

(30:49):
To advertise two diet supplements called the Informa System. Taken together.
The company claimed that their Fat Trap and Exercise in
a bottle would stop the absorption of fat and make
a person lose weight without diet or exercise. The company

(31:12):
were quickly called to task on their lives, and they
were forced to pay ten million dollars for consumer rectification.
Funny thing is most of that ten million dollars went
to lawyers and court costs. Lawsuits continued to pop up
concerning the case for five years after the commercials were

(31:35):
no longer being shown. The FTC tried to sue Steve
Garvey in federal court several times for his involvement in
the ad, but the court's ruled endorsers were not liable
for misleading statements and advertising. They're not politicians, They're not

(31:57):
allowed to lie. This led to the FTC making it
illegal for celebrities to make false statements in advertising. Congress
just hates competition. In England, multiple makeup brands, including Laurel

(32:18):
Lencomb in Olay, were involved in similar situations where they
photoshopped images of their models to make their skin look smoother,
suggesting that their face cream would give the customers the
same results. The advertising standards authorities ruled post production was

(32:42):
okay as long as the resulting effect was not one
which misleadingly exaggerated the effects that the product was capable
of achieving a judging simply by the images that they
had been altered completely changing the complexion of the models.

(33:04):
They exaggerated the results of the product and defied this rule.
In the past, it was common practice for makeup companies
to airbrush their models to make them look as if
the product would perform miracles for everybody using it. It
kind of like how most men's magazines used air brushing

(33:27):
on their photos to make the girls look much better
than they really do. Well known cereal brand Kellogg told
people that their rice crispies would help support a child's
immune system since it had twenty five percent of the
daily recommended antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients being contained in their cereal.

(33:55):
They advertised this falsity and prominently on the front of
their boxes, and the FTC ordered Kellogg to remove this
unproven claim, otherwise they were going to be taken to court.
Kellogg did remove the claim from their boxes, but they
put out a statement adamantly assuring that science proves these

(34:20):
antioxidants would support a child's immune system. I don't know
what that was all about, but Kathy's getting cranked up again.
A Steve Warshack spent three hundred and seventy four million

(34:40):
dollars on TV commercials which featured smiling Bob, a grinning
buffoon who had a big new swing of confidence. Some
commercials also featured an eq smiling missus Bob. Warshack even

(35:05):
sponsored a NASCAR race team. The trouble was Enziite doesn't
have any clinical effect on a male genito urinary system whatsoever,
and Warshack was overbilling his customer's credit cards. Warshack was
sentenced to twenty five years in prison. Enzite was an

(35:31):
American herbal nutritional supplement originally manufactured by Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals. Okay,
I don't usually talk about things not family appropriate, but
this one I just have to mention. Send the kids

(35:53):
out of the room, tell them to go to the
backyard and look for buried treasure. For about the next
five minutes, we're going to be discussing an adult subject.
The claim was this substance would make a man's reproductive
organ bigger. The bigger the thingy, the more confidence a

(36:18):
guy would have. It was also supposed to alleviate a
rectile dysfunction. In March two thousand and five, thousands of
customer complaints were made to the Better Business Bureau by
dissatisfied customers who were asking they were all asking for

(36:40):
a friend, about the company's business practices, especially the autoship
program that repeatedly charged customer's credit cards for refills even
after their subscriptions had been canceled. The Better Business Bureau
contacted the FBI, and the federal agents rated Berkeley Facilities,

(37:05):
gathering materials that resulted in one hundred and twelve count
criminal indictment. The company's founder and CEO, Steven Warshak and
his mother, Yes, his mother, Harriet Warshak, were found guilty
of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering,

(37:30):
and in September two thousand and eight, they were sentenced
to prison and ordered to forfeit five hundred million dollars
in assets. That's an awful lot of ed treatment all
those people asking for a friend. I can just imagine. Wait,

(37:58):
I can just imagine this guy shows up in prison
and the prisoners would say, what are you in for?
And he would say, I invented a substance that makes
the old thing ye bigger. And the prisoner would say, oh,

(38:19):
so you're the guy that defrauded me and my boys
worship and his mother. If I ever had an idea
to invent anything to do with that part of the body,
I sure wouldn't have asked my mom to get involved.
Can you imagine that conversation, Mom, I invented a substance

(38:44):
that will make my thingy bigger. Here. Look I used
some myself. God, I got that caught in my head.
The convictions and the finds forced the company into bankruptcy,
and in this December two thousand and eight, its assets
were sold for two point seventy five million dollars to

(39:07):
an investment company, Priston Bay, which now continues operations and
are they're still marketing the product. The product is now
marketed as Vanden LLC in Cincinnati, Ohio. The manufacturer claimed
that Enzight promotes natural mail enhancement, which is an euphanism

(39:33):
for enhancing a rectile function. Its effectiveness has been called
into doubt and the claims of the manufacturer have been
under scrutiny for various states and federal organizations. Kenneth Goldberg,
medical director of the Mail Health Center at Baylor University,

(39:55):
said it makes no sense medical. There's no way that
increasing blood flow to the penis, as Insight claims to do,
will actually increase its size. That's hard on the voice. Now,

(40:17):
I have to ask, how did they study this substance?
Is this one of those government research studies that some
clown convinced those folks in Washington was a good idea?
Did they hand out free samples to try it at
home or more than likely in their office. Because Insight

(40:41):
was on a herbal product, no testing was required by
the US Food and Drug Administration. An official of the
Federal Trade Commission the vision that monitors advertising said the
lack of scientific testing is a red flag right off
the bat. There was no science behind any of their claims.

(41:06):
The company has conceded that it has no scientific studies
that substantiated any of its inziet claims. How about the
boys in the white lab coats. I'll bet a few
of them, no more than a thousand or so volunteered

(41:26):
to perform a scientific study on whether or not the
product worked. Ira Sherlop, a spokesman for the American Urological Association, said,
I'm not gonna do the voice anymore. There is no
such thing as a penis pill that works. These are

(41:50):
all things that are sold for profit. There's no science
or substance behind any of them. Civil lawsuit alleged Enzite
does not work as advertised. Despite manufacturers claiming that enzit
will increase the thingy size, girth, and firmness, and improve

(42:14):
your performance in bed, there exists no scientific evidence that
enzite is capable of making good on any of these claims.
Enzite has never been scientifically tested by the FDA, or
so we're told, or other independent third parties. Enzite is

(42:35):
required by US law to be marketed as an herbal
supplement and may not legally be called a drug. Enzite
is not allowed to claim these benefits in its advertising, However,
June twenty ten, TV commercials for the products still use
the phrase natural male enhancement. In testimony during the trial,

(43:02):
a former executive with Berkeley testified that the enhancement the
company claimed were achieved by Zeit were fabricated and the
company was defrauding their customers by continuing to charge them
for additional shipments of the supplement even after they had

(43:22):
been canceled. He further testified the company employees were instructed
to make it as difficult as possible for unhappy customers
to receive their refunds. February twenty second, two thousand and eight,
Steve Warshak was found guilty of ninety three counts of conspiracy, fraud,

(43:46):
and money laundering. August twenty seventh, two thousand and eight,
he was sentenced by US District Judge Arthur Spiegel to
twenty five years in prison, and he was ordered to
pay ninety three thousand dollars in fines. Warshack became an
inmate at the Federal Correctional Institute in Elkton, Ohio. His company,

(44:11):
Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, along with other defendants, were ordered to
forfeit five hundred million dollars. His seventy five year old mother,
Harriet Warshack, was sentenced to two years in prison, but
was released on bond pending an appeal after turning over

(44:33):
her house, her bank account, and all of her assets.
Both Steve and Harriet Warshack appealed their convictions. The United
States Court of Appeals for the six Circuit in the
United States Versus Warshack twenty ten upheld their convictions. Just

(44:57):
a little something about the Better Business Bureau the BBB
for the best night's sleep in the whole wide world.
You remember that commercial. If you don't recognize that little jingle,
I don't know where you've been hiding. Mike Lindell started

(45:20):
making pillows back in nineteen nineties. Now, Mike was not
one to follow the laws to their fullest. In fact,
he was actively using crack while founding his company. He
does make the best pillow in the world, which is

(45:41):
kind of weird, seeing as crack addicts never sleep. In
two thousand and nine, Mike was able to stop using
drugs and he turned his company into a megabusiness. He
had an A plus rating with the BBB. Donald Trump

(46:03):
met with Mike and asked for his endorsement back in
twenty sixteen. Mike Lindell made a small speech where he
endorsed Trump, and the next day the BBB dropped him
from an A plus to an F. Mike tried to

(46:24):
appeal their decision, but they said nay, nay. Their rating
was based on a super small fraction of consumers, something
like zero point zero zero one who said they didn't
like their pillows. I think the BBB was upset because, well,

(46:48):
that one woman lost the election. If you haven't read
his book, what are the odds? You're missing quite a
story actually, because it's true and it's got a really
cool cover. I like the way he changes expression on it.

(47:16):
You're missing a really good story, though, if you haven't
read it yet, or you can listen to the audio
book if you just don't like reading. Mike reads it himself.
I have both the book and the audiobook. We were
driving over to McCallen to attend a UFO presentation and

(47:38):
I hooked up the MP three player to my radio.
My wife didn't want to stop listening once we were
at the venue. Then on the way home we were
listening and we still had an hour and a half
to go. When we reached the house, I had to
take the player inside and then plug it into a speaker.

(48:00):
We didn't finish up until two o'clock in the morning.
It was that good. And check it out if you
get a chance. Just look for What Are the Odds
by Mike Lindell. BBB is a bunch of political hacks
who will try to destroy anybody not on their side
of an argument. That's just my opinion. Of course. The

(48:25):
FDA is run by folks trying to sell their products.
It claims to be there for us, but they get
money from the companies they're supposed to be keeping an
eye on. This is done in a form of user
fees that are charged by the FDA and paid by
the folks being looked into. The folks running the place

(48:50):
are given cushy jobs by those same companies as soon
as they bail out of government work. Makes me wonder
just how accurate their conclusions actually are. People are not
obsessed by their health because they think they need to
take care of themselves. They're obsessed by their health because

(49:14):
companies spend millions of dollars telling them that they are
Ever since Edward Burnee convinced people to buy what they
wanted instead of what they needed, people have been manipulated
by big businesses. Oh for the gusto, you deserve a

(49:35):
break today, weekends were made for well, you get the idea.
Around the end of World War Two, people lived in
houses they could afford on one income. Like I said,
I got to stop doing these voices. People used whatever

(49:57):
form of transportation they had. Was it a horse and buggy,
a bicycle, or an old beat up pickup. You used
what you had. Suddenly folks were being told not only
did they need a bigger house, faster car, fancier wardrobe,

(50:19):
they deserved it. People needed to buy more and more
things in order to make themselves happy. The neighbors would
think there was something wrong, something un American about living
the way they could afford. Health is big business and

(50:40):
advertising has led folks down the wrong way In pursuit
of health. Diet soda has become a popular alternative to
folks that want something sweet to drink, and they've been
convinced that sugar is so kind of a poison. The sugar,

(51:03):
which is a natural substance, is bad for you, while
at the same time, chemicals that make your tongue happy
but your body sad are good for you. All those
artificial sweeteners have all kinds of weird side effects, things
like brain tumors and skin rashes. Digestive a nervous trouble.

(51:29):
Marketed is a healthier choice. Diet sodas are often sweetened
with artificial sweeteners like aspartame, sucralose, and sacharine. Despite their calorie,
feel free appeal, uh there's been growing concerns and debate
over whether diet soda is genuinely a better choice for

(51:50):
your health. More research has been conducted in the last
few years, and the health implications of consuming diet soda
have come under scrutiny. One of the main concerns about
diet soda is its potential link to increased risk of
diet two diabetes, and heart disease. Studies have shown that

(52:15):
regular consumption of diet soda may be associated with a
higher risk of developing chronic conditions. Researchers suggest that even
though diet sodas do not contain sugar, the artificial sweeteners
they do contain affect the body's ability to regulate glucose,

(52:36):
leading to an increased risk of diabetes. Another significant area
of research has focused on diet SODA's impact on weight management.
You know you're go on a diet to lose weight. Actually,
a diet is something you are on, it's not something
that you get on. Well, it seems logical to replace

(53:00):
sugary sodas with calorie free versions that it would add
in weight loss. Evidence suggests the opposite is probably true.
Some studies have found a correlation between diet soda consumption
and weight gain. One theory is artificial sweeteners disrupt the

(53:24):
body's natural mechanisms for regulating hunger, leading to increased appetite
and food intake. The potential effects of diet soda on
kidney health have also been explored. Research indicates high consumption
of diet soda may be linked to decline in kidney function.

(53:45):
The exact reason for this association is not fully understood,
but it's thought that artificial sweeteners are to blame. There's
evidence to suggest diet soda consumption maybe associated with an
increased risk of dental erosion due to the high acidity

(54:05):
content The acidic nature of diet soda can wear away
tooth enamel, leading to cavities and other dental issues. I
used to work with a guy who drank six or
eight diet sodas in an eight hour shift. He kept
getting fatter, and I tried to tell him that the

(54:27):
diet soda was to blame, but hey, what do I know.
He was last seen looking more like the Michelin man
than a human and still gulping down diet sodas. The
simpler answer would be to not consume diet drinks and
limit the number of sweet drinks you have each day.

(54:51):
I make my own sweet teeth, I use sugar and
honey to sweeten it, and I drink a glass or
two a day. I haven't had a soda in years,
and I never drink diet anything. Just watch TV for
a few hours and you'll see a lot of skinny

(55:13):
people playing on the beach and drinking diet something or others.
It's refreshing, it's healthy, it's going to eat your liver.
Don't get me started on light beer. Light beer is
often promoted as a bread beverage that helps those watching

(55:36):
their weight and reducing their alcohol intake. Its typically contains
fewer calories, less alcohol, and sometimes fewer carbohydrates compared to
regular beer. It still has alcohol and too much will
land you in jail. For the cemetery, the advertisers show

(55:59):
young people having all kinds of fun camping or hanging
out with their friends. They gloss over the people crashing
their cars, getting into fights, waking up in unknown locations,
and having to ask their friends just how much fun
did they have over the weekend. That's not gusto, that's foolishness.

(56:25):
What's with all the obsession with weight loss and health?
Folks became desperate to look the way they think others
think they should look. They are seeking the perfect body
that doesn't exist. Desperation leads to trying anything, which it

(56:46):
leads to all kinds of scams. Scammers post ads online
for things like weight loss pills, patches, belts, mules, electric gizmos,
or creams. The ads often look like news reports about
a miraculous new product to help you lose weight without

(57:08):
dieting or exercise. Instant success. You can lose twenty pounds
overnight by using this substance or such. All you need
to do is send in a few hundred, maybe a
few thousand dollars to some company's address in Nevada, probably

(57:32):
Las Vegas, and you'll be on your way to a
beautiful new body and a healthier lifestyle. Why do I
pick on Las Vegas? It's home to a lot of
bogus call centers that move each month. In order to
avoid law enforcement. The scammers might even steal logos from

(57:54):
real news organizations to make their posts seem more real. Now,
with AI, you can take any celebrity you want, and
you can make them say anything you want. If you're
enticed to take the next step and check out the reviews,

(58:15):
you're going to find all kinds of positive, glowing things
from people who claim to have used the product. Scammers
often write themselves up in glowing terms, or they will
pay somebody else to do it a sum with dramatic

(58:36):
before and after pictures. Usually these pictures had nothing to
do with the product. They simply get them off the internet.
Scammers will say just about anything to get you to
buy their weight loss or fitness products. To spot a scam,
keep your eyes open for as somebody saying you don't

(58:59):
have to watch what you eat to lose weight. Anybody
saying that their product helps you lose weight permanently. If
anybody says to lose weight, all you have to do
is take their pill. If somebody promises that you can
lose thirty pounds and thirty days, it doesn't work that way.

(59:20):
If it took you a couple of years to get
out of shape, it's probably going to take you a
couple of years to get back into shape. If anybody
claims that their product works for everybody, they're lying to you.
These scammers put disclaimers in tiny print. The refund, if

(59:42):
not satisfied, has conditions that are buried in the so
called privacy declarations. Just like that company Steve Worshak had created.
To get a refund, you're going to have to get
Congress to actually do something. Using an electric muscle stimulator

(01:00:04):
alone will not work. You might have seen ads for
electric muscle stimulators claiming they'll help you lose weight and
get rock hard abs. These devices may temporarily make your
muscles stronger, but eventually they just stop working. If you

(01:00:25):
decide to join a gym, make sure you know what
you're signing up for. Not all gym contracts are the same.
Before you commit, try reading the contract if you can
understand what it says and get the salesperson to explain it,
which they probably don't even know what it says. If

(01:00:48):
you cancel, do you get all your money back? Don't
bother reading the reviews. They were probably written by the
guy you're talking to. Most gyms do offer a fairly
good deal a monthly charges that are usually made automatically.
The folks who own the gyms know most people will

(01:01:11):
join and then stop showing up as soon as their
muscles start to hurt. They won't cancel their membership because
they'll keep saying, well, I'm going to start going again
next month, next month, next month, until a year has
gone by and the gym has made a lot of

(01:01:32):
money and the person has never been there.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Home.

Speaker 2 (01:01:37):
Exercise equipment can be a great way to shape up
if you don't feel like hanging around with a bunch
of people in too small of spandex but only if
you use it. Some exercise equipment ads promise you can
shape up and lose weight quickly without a whole lot
of effort. The truth is to get the benefits of exercise,

(01:02:03):
you gotta work. If the muscle doesn't hurt, when you're
done exercising, you're not exercising. Some companies advertise three easy
payments of forty nine to ninety nine, but they don't
include shipping, handling, taxes, all the other things that are

(01:02:25):
included in the price. You need to do a little digging.
There are thousands of home fitness toys sitting in back rooms, closets,
and under people's beds, collecting dust and not making anyone healthy.
That total satisfaction claim is only usable if you pay

(01:02:47):
the shipping to return this super heavy item to the company,
and that sometimes costs more than the equipment is worth.
Academy stores are found in sixteen states. If you don't
have an academy in your state or nearby, you should

(01:03:10):
move or find a company that you believe is reputable.
You can buy your own health equipment. Start with just
a few small items. Don't buy an entire workout set
you don't know if you're going to use it or not.
One or two weights, and then slowly work up. As

(01:03:33):
the pain increases just a little bit, you are less
likely to stop using them. I sometimes get a bit
of grief from folks who say you drive a foreign
made vehicle. I have a Honda Ridge line that was
manufactured in Lincoln, Alabama. The only actual foreign part of

(01:03:59):
my truck is the transmission. Everything else was made here
in the United States. Until recently, Chevies and Fords were
all built in Mexico. To claim to be made in America,
the product has to claim has to contain sixty percent

(01:04:19):
parts that are made in the US. The parts are
then shipped into Mexico, assembled, and then shipped back. My
Japanese pickup has more parts made in the United States
than Chevy and Ford combined. We used to watch hundreds

(01:04:40):
of car carriers coming north out of Mexico hauling thousands
of Chevies and Fords. To add to the problem, there
are only eight or ten different keys for each model.
People can steal the key sets come north looking for
vehicles that those keys go to. Why break a window

(01:05:02):
when you've got the keys right there in your hand.
Someday soon, made in America might actually mean something, But
we're waiting for those folks in Washington to do something.
Who was the genius that decided that all of our
manufacturing should be shipped over to other countries. Oh it's

(01:05:26):
that folks in Washington again. The elites who think they
know better than the rest of us, and they're the
ones making the enormous profits. Anytime you hear military grade,
just think it's the lowest bidder. Lots of companies like

(01:05:47):
to say their product is military grade, so just think
cheap whenever you hear that term. Now for the fun part.
Just because you see something sounds absolutely bonkers doesn't mean
it's a scam. There are products out there that do

(01:06:09):
incredible things. It's near impossible to sort out the lies
from the truth. You have to do some digging, reading,
searching to find out if a earthing pad will actually
work or not. You have to find out if Chuck
Norris's morning kick actually makes you feel better in the morning. Plus,

(01:06:35):
just because something works for one person doesn't mean it'll
work for everyone. You enjoyed today's show, if you did,
spread it around, tell people you don't know that they
should be listening to Strange Things with Chris James until
next time. See y'all later.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
Are you Are you coming to the tree where they
strung up a man who they said he murdered? Three
strange things have happened there. No stranger would it be
if we met at midnight in the hanging Tree,