The internet is rife with weight loss scams, many of which falsely use celebrity endorsements to lure in unsuspecting consumers. This article delves into the pervasive issue of fake celebrity endorsements in the weight loss industry, focusing on the "Adele earring weight loss" hoax as a prime example. It aims to equip readers with the knowledge to identify and avoid these deceptive practices.
The Rise of Celebrity Endorsement Scams
Celebrity endorsements hold significant sway over consumer choices. Businesses understand this influence and sometimes resort to unethical tactics, including creating fake endorsements. While Oprah Winfrey is sought after by companies to endorse their products, some companies have skipped the "get her permission" step. One of the latest trends is fake advertisements, web sites or social media posts claiming that celebrities are endorsing a product when the celebrities never really did.
Herb Weisbaum reports for NBC News on bogus "news" sites that even use the logos of popular news outlets to get you to buy products or services. One example is a site that looks like a Today show site and claims that Joy Behar is quitting The View to work on an anti-aging skin cream. Seems a bit implausible that Behar would need to quit the television show to concentrate on such a venture, unless she was actually the one mixing the skin cream chemicals. Weisbaum goes on to give additional examples such as fake CNN pages covering how Melissa McCarthy lost 50 pounds and John Goodman lost 100 pounds without dieting. Kim Kardashian and Dr.
These scams often involve creating fake news articles or social media posts that appear to show celebrities endorsing specific weight loss products. These endorsements are entirely fabricated, and the celebrities have no association with the products being advertised.
Adele: A Frequent Target of Weight Loss Scams
Adele, the acclaimed singer, has frequently been targeted in weight loss scams. Scammers exploit her widely publicized weight loss journey to promote various products, often without her consent or knowledge. One notable example is the "Adele Told Us About Her Daily Keto…" article, which falsely claimed she endorsed Keto weight loss gummies on 'Ellen'.
Read also: Weight Loss and Happiness
Identifying Red Flags: Spotting a Fake Endorsement
Several telltale signs can help you identify a fake celebrity endorsement:
Unrealistic Claims: Be wary of products promising rapid or effortless weight loss without diet or exercise. Dishonest advertisers will say just about anything to get you to buy their weight loss products. Here are some of the false promises you’ll often see in weight loss ads:
- Lose weight without dieting or exercising. (You won’t.)
- You don’t have to watch what you eat to lose weight. (You do.)
- If you use this product, you’ll lose weight permanently. (Wrong.)
- To lose weight, all you have to do is take this pill. (Not true.)
- You can lose 30 pounds in 30 days. (Nope.)
- This product works for everyone. (It doesn’t.)
- Lose weight with this patch or cream. (You can’t.)
Questionable Websites: Be cautious of news sites that resemble commercials or use unprofessional language. Be wary of news sites that don't look like news sites: News sites shouldn't sound like commercials.
Indirect Language: Watch out for phrases suggesting the celebrity may not have officially endorsed the product, such as "did you hear that" or "so-and-so favors."
Photoshopped Images: Look for pictures or screenshots that appear altered or "borrowed."
Read also: Adele's Weight Loss: Fact vs. Fiction
Misspellings: Typos, especially in the celebrity's name, are a clear giveaway.
Lack of Official Confirmation: Always check the celebrity's official website or social media accounts to verify any endorsement claims.
The "Pink Salt Trick" and Other Dubious Weight Loss Methods
Another weight loss hoax involves the promotion of a "pink salt trick." Claims suggest that simply consuming pink salt can lead to weight loss. Will 'pink salt trick' help you lose weight? Aug. Does pink salt trick for weight loss work?
However, experts refute this claim, emphasizing that salt, including pink salt, contributes to water retention, potentially leading to weight gain. Salt contributes to water retention and therefore weight gain, a clinical dietitian said. In fact, salt promotes water retention, which can result in weight gain, a clinical dietitian said.
Several other weight loss myths and scams persist, including:
Read also: The truth behind Adele's weight loss
- Keto Weight Loss Gummies: These products often falsely claim to induce ketosis without dietary changes.
- Weight Loss Drugs: Be wary of unsubstantiated claims surrounding weight loss drugs like Ozempic. Aug. Ozempic, other weight-loss drug makers face lawsuits. Pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and Co. denied the allegations.
- Wine Before Bed: The idea that drinking wine before bed promotes weight loss is a myth. Does Wine Before Bed 'Make You Skinny'? Feb. No, a Harvard study didn't just prove sinking wine before bed "makes you skinny" or that it aids …
- Farting Burns Calories: This is a false claim. Farting Burns 67 Calories? Nov. Contrary to Internet search engine wisdom, farting does not burn 67 calories and is not a practi …
- Electronic Muscle Stimulators: Using an electronic muscle stimulator alone won’t work. You might have seen ads for electronic muscle stimulators claiming they will help you lose weight, or get rock-hard abs. But, according to the FDA, while these devices may temporarily strengthen, tone, or firm a muscle, they haven’t been shown to help you lose weight - or get those six-pack abs.
The Dangers of "Free" Trials and Tainted Products
"Free" trial offers are often not free at all. Many people who have signed up for “free” trials for weight loss products have wound up paying a lot of money and have been billed for recurring shipments they didn’t want.
The FDA has found tainted weight loss products. In recent years, the FDA has discovered hundreds of dietary supplements that contain potentially harmful drugs or other chemicals not listed on the product label.
The "Mama Cass" Elliot Hoax: A Cautionary Tale
The history of pop culture is full of fables and legends that have given the music industry an air of mystery, reverie and nonsense, an aura that is indispensable for establishing itself as an essential part of our collective imagination. Most of these myths do not go beyond anecdotes that the artists themselves tolerate to enhance their legendary status. But the hoax surrounding Cass Elliot of the Mamas & the Papas continues to captivate public opinion even as it perpetuates the fatphobia that shaped her life and besmirched her legacy.
Born Ellen Naomi Cohen, Mama Cass was only 32 years old in July 1974. Despite her age, the young woman from Baltimore had already become a global 1960s countercultural icon and an emblem of the hippie movement as a result of her role as the lead singer of the Mamas & the Papas, the band responsible for hits like “California Dreamin’” and “Monday Monday.” She was a single mother and had been married and divorced twice (the first time was to help a friend avoid being drafted into the Vietnam War). After the band broke up, she was looking forward to a promising career as a solo singer. Her tour kicked off with a series of concerts in London; she had scheduled two weeks of sold-out shows. But on the afternoon of July 28, Elliot died of a heart attack while taking a nap in her Mayfair apartment.
As with all good rock stars, it didn’t take long for rumors to spread about her death: she was expecting John Lennon’s baby, it was an FBI plot… But the discovery of a half-finished ham sandwich on her bedside table gave rise to a rumor that not only spread in the media at the time but endured (and has required debunking) for almost a half century after her death: Cass Elliot, who had dared to defy beauty standards during her career, choked to death while eating a sandwich.
As if it were punishing her for the cardinal sin of gluttony, the public did not hesitate to give the rumor its due and accept it as valid. It didn’t matter that media outlets like the New York Times published articles in which the specialists who treated Cass refuted the story just a few days later. It was only logical to assume that one of the most famous obese women of her time was a glutton, that she devoured food and choked on it. She became the butt of jokes. “It’s been hard for my family with the sandwich rumour. One last slap against the fat lady. People seem to think it’s funny. What’s so darn funny?” Owen Elliot, the singer’s only daughter, said in The Guardian. A quick look at social media confirms that jokes based on that canard still persist today. (The show Lost had previously recovered the song.)
Throughout her career, Cass had to face cruel, constant and pervasive fatphobia. She tried to use humor and laugh it off, her friend Sue Cameron recalls. “She covered it up. She was the ‘funny one.’ It was horrible for her to be thought of as ‘the fat one’ and Michelle [Phillips] as the pretty one. People would say that to Cass’ face. She had to suck it up and laugh.” Cass was even mocked in her own band’s songs: “Nobody’s getting fat, except Mama Cass,” the Mamas & the Papas sang in their 1967 song “Creeque Alley.” Rumor has it that, in the early days, the band didn’t want her because she was overweight. The quartet’s founder, John Phillips, confessed that peer pressure to lose weight took its toll on Cass, leading her to go on diets that were as extreme as they were dangerous. These diets ended up irrevocably damaging her cardiovascular system. In 1968, after fasting four days a week and losing up to 55 kilos (about 121 pounds), Elliot was admitted to the hospital. “I’ve been fat since I was seven and being fat sets you apart,” she said.
Sue Cameron, who worked as a journalist for The Hollywood Reporter at the time, wrote the article that linked her friend’s death to the ham sandwich. She was commissioned by the singer’s manager, Allan Carr, who was trying to save the artist’s reputation and avoid hypotheses that associated Cass’s sudden death with drug use. The autopsy did not find any narcotics in her system or food lodged in her mouth or trachea. “Many people don’t realize that [the ham sandwich story is] not even true. Even though I have said - and written - it’s not true, it still goes on. I never thought it would last as long as it has,” Cameron says apologetically.
Despite the social scorn she confronted, Mama Cass did not just reach the heights of the folk music scene with her angelic voice; she also became a model of boho-chic aesthetics and broke the barriers of the music industry’s body normativity, paving the way for those who followed her like Adele and Lizzo. In the 1960s, few dared to pose nude and tattooed on magazine covers, which left a “significant” impression on the overweight teenage girls of Cass’s day. A famous woman unapologetically showing her obese body in the media was an outrage against the morality of the time.
A Realistic Approach to Weight Loss
The key to sustainable weight loss lies in adopting a balanced diet and engaging in regular physical activity. Permanent weight loss requires permanent lifestyle changes, so don’t trust any product that promises once-and-for-all results.