With Oprah Winfrey and celebrity surgeon, Dr. Mehmet Oz, filing lawsuits against makers and marketers of dietary supplement products recently, online marketing practices in regards to products like Acai and Resveratrol are currently under heavy fire. And with good reason. Dr. Oz praising the anti-aging properties of acai berries on the Oprah Winfrey show is being translated into ads by some internet marketers as these two celebrities endorsing the products when they have not.

What happens when people find out they have been misled? According to an article by the Chicago Tribune, Oprah’s web site has fielded more than 2,000 complaints related to acai-berry products. In addition to the complaints, I imagine this resulted in many charge backs for those marketers who chose the misleading route and a damaged reputation.

Rather than using celebrity names and gimmicks, makers and marketers need to go back to the basics of honest salesmanship – using scientific studies, statistics and testimonials from actual users as the driving force as to why a customer should be purchasing a product. Just as brick and mortar shops need to establish a name and reputation, marketers need to look at their online marketing practices the same way – perhaps even more so, as all you do have on the internet is your name and reputation.

Blue Phoenix Media