{"id":5311,"date":"2011-09-09T05:19:25","date_gmt":"2011-09-09T03:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=5311"},"modified":"2015-12-07T11:52:28","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T16:52:28","slug":"ftc-acne-app-marketers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/ftc-acne-app-marketers\/","title":{"rendered":"FTC Goes After Acne App Marketers"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOL – this was a new one on me: using phone apps\u00a0to\u00a0commit health fraud.<\/a><\/p>\n

The cases involving mobile apps \u201cAcneApp\u201d and \u201cAcne Pwner\u201d are the first the FTC has brought targeting health claims in the mobile application marketplace.<\/p>\n

The FTC alleged that the mobile apps were advertised to work in the same way: both claimed to be able to treat acne with colored lights emitted from smartphones or mobile devices. Consumers were advised to hold the display screen next to the area of skin to be treated for few minutes daily while the app was activated.<\/p>\n

According to the FTC complaint, there were approximately 3,300 downloads of AcnePwner, which was offered for 99 cents in the Android Marketplace. Ads for Acne Pwner stated, \u201cKill ACNE with this simple, yet powerful tool!\u201d The marketers of AcneApp claimed, \u201cThis app was developed by a dermatologist. A study published by the British Journal of Dermatology showed blue and red light treatments eliminated p-acne bacteria (a major cause of acne) and reduces skin blemishes by 76%.\u201d There were approximately 11,600 downloads of AcneApp from the iTunes store, where it was sold for $1.99.<\/p>\n

The FTC charged the acne treatment claims made for both apps were unsubstantiated. It also charged that the marketers of AcneApp falsely claimed that the study in the British Journal of Dermatology<\/em> proves that blue and red light therapy, such as the type provided by AcneApp, is an effective acne treatment.<\/p>\n

The settlements would bar the marketers from making acne-treatment claims about their mobile apps and other medical devices, as well as the safety, performance, benefits, or efficacy claims about any device, without competent and reliable scientific evidence. The two marketers of AcneApp would also be barred from misrepresenting research, tests, or studies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Can red and blue light\u00a0therapy treat acne? According to a review published in 2009, it\u00a0might help somewhat, but the reviewers didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about the quality of many of the trials, and the limited comparisons to conventional treatments. But whatever the merits, the\u00a0idea that holding a smartphone to your face\u00a0is equivalent to\u00a0professional treatments and\/or devices<\/a> is pretty absurd.<\/p>\n

I guess the only\u00a0good thing about\u00a0this particular scam is that it didn’t cost the victims very much… I guess the developers were counting on mass sales to make $$$, and the low price to deter complaints.\u00a0 Sux to be them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOL – this was a new one on me: using phone apps\u00a0to\u00a0commit health fraud. The cases involving mobile apps \u201cAcneApp\u201d and \u201cAcne Pwner\u201d are the first the FTC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,17,22,28],"tags":[721,820],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5311"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5311"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10387,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5311\/revisions\/10387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}