Cape Town - A campaign on social media using the names and images of South African exercise and diet expert Prof Tim Noakes, American talk show host Oprah Winfrey and retail pharmacy Dis-Chem, among others, to endorse a weight-loss product has been branded a scam.
The campaign offering to sell different varieties of “Keto Weight Loss Gummies” appears in the form of paid adverts created with designs, graphics and logos on Facebook and other social media platforms.
An investigation by fact-checking website Snopes found that the ads were clickbait and misleading, and that: “This was all part of an ongoing fake endorsement scam using celebrities’ likenesses.”
Snopes gave the example of one product’s terms and condition page, which said the charges for the product once ordered would occur “every 30 days after the initial purchase”.
They found that in order to cancel a recurring order, customers would first need to contact the company to initiate the process but that this would be difficult as: “The area that was supposed to show the return shipping address was left blank.”
A spokesperson for Dis-Chem Craig Fairweather said the campaign was a scam and shared a post from DisChem’s official social media, which said: “Please be aware that there are scammers online impersonating us. Dis-Chem does not sell this product, nor are we affiliated with these ads.”
Replying to a query about whether he had endorsed the product, Noakes, who is the author of several books on exercise and diet, said he did not endorse individual products.
“It is a dreadful scam that has been going on for years and which we are quite unable to stop despite trying all possible avenues.”
Noakes said what he did endorse was a real food eating plan which he said meant, “avoiding ultra-processed foods and eating foods that come from the farm without going industrial processing.”
Oprah’s Instagram page has a message, which was posted back in October, calling out weight loss supplement brands for attaching her image and endorsement to their products in online ads and targeted email campaigns.
She said in a video statement on the page, “So it happened to me again today. A woman came up to me and said: Can you help me get your weight loss gummies? And I said: Ma’am, I don’t have anything to do with weight loss gummies.”