> I thought this kind of advertising ended about 100 years ago.
On the contrary, the oil additive people have been going at it hot and heavy
for the last 20 years or so. Seems to me it was Slick 50 that started the
most recent craze, which has included Prolong, Dura-lube, TM8, zMax, Torque
100, and many many others. But there are lots of older ones too, STP and
Bardahl are just two that have greatly exaggerated their benefits (IMO).
Unfortunately, FTC prosecution amounts to a tap on the wrist at best, most
cases are settled like the Prolong decision I posted before, where the
defendant agrees to not break the law, without ever admitting that they were
breaking the law. (Huh ? I thought we were all supposed to obey the law
without having to first 'agree' to it ???) And at worst, the FTC does
absolutely nothing.
Obviously, the scam artists have figured out that the secret to success is
to find something that captures the public's imagination, so everyone tries
it "just because it might work", thus running up a huge profit in just a few
years. Slick 50 is still selling something like $100 million/year, at
probably 50% net profit. Weigh that against the 'record' FTC settlement of
requiring them to give away _up to_ $10 million in discount coupons (!),
these people have won the lottery !
I strongly suspect we will see more snake oil salesmen in the next few
years, as the new FTC chairman Timothy Maris is known to be very laissez
faire ("hands-off", very much in keeping with Dubya's views on business and
his family's Enron profits).
BTW, the self-proclaimed inventor of Slick 50 is still at it, his web page
even has a Spitfire on it (LBC content)
http://xcelplus.com/index.htm
I love how he quotes so many studies, all heavily excerpted and 'done on the
same product under a different (undisclosed) name'. If anyone is tempted to
try this stuff, please let me know. I'm selling raffle tickets on prime
land in Florida ... only 25 miles east of downtown Miami !
Randall - putting the soap box away
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