Cellulite Cream, Credit Cards And A Cure For Cancer

This sounds a bit like old and repackaged news, but still worth a look. The Federal Trade Commission yesterday "announced six law enforcement actions" against scams targeting Hispanics. For a moment, let us leave aside the inherent silliness of the phrase "law enforcement actions" and discard the likelihood that said actions were already public knowledge. Instead, we can focus on the one unifying characteristic of these fraudulent attempts to separate Latinos from their money - Spanish-language media.

The companies pursued by the FTC were pitching everything from cellulite cream to credit cards that were not credit cards and available only after payment of an upfront fee ranging from $149 to $299. The most dramatic case may well be the herbal supplements sold by Latinos Group Promotions. In commercials on Spanish-language television stations, “Arcomig” was touted as a cure for cancer and arthritis among other conditions.   According to the FTC, the folks at Latinos Group  Promotions lied and said "Arcomig" was FDA-approved. 

I can't imagine that the stations running these commercials (there were also newspaper and magazine ads) are open to any liability as a result of running these deeply deceptive advertisements. Yet, from an ethical standpoint I wonder if the Spanish-language media outlets shouldn't have been a wee bit pickier. We are not talking about Ginsu knives, which, after all, have their place in the universe. We are talking about someone selling a quack cure for cancer. Surely, this should have raised an eyebrow or two.