By Pat Cauley
Following is Electronic Retailer's exclusive Q&A with Senior Attorney Laureen Kapin, Enforcement Division, Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission on the Kevin Trudeau case.
Electronic Retailer: First and foremost, what are the straight facts of this case?
Laureen Kapin: This case begins with the FTC's permanent injunction against Kevin Trudeau, which contained a broad infomercial ban. It prohibited him from producing, disseminating, making or assisting others in making any representation in infomercials. It had a very narrow exception. That exception did allow Mr. Trudeau to make infomercials in connection with advertising books. But, there was a very important caveat; Mr. Trudeau couldn't misrepresent the content of the book. And our current successful contempt action against Mr. Trudeau arose because he was misrepresenting the content of his book "The Weight Loss Cure 'They' Don't Want You to Know About" by claiming that the weight-loss protocol, which was the heart of the book, was easy and that after consumers finished the protocol that they could eat whatever they wanted and still maintain the weight loss they had achieved through the protocol described in Mr. Trudeau's book. Judge Gettelman determined that those claims were patently false. In fact, Mr. Trudeau's weight-loss protocol is quite difficult and contains numerous lifelong food restrictions- that is consumers can't in fact eat whatever they want. In particular, the Court noted that average consumers buying Mr. Trudeau's book would be quite surprised to learn what was required to achieve the miraculous and permanent weight loss touted by the ads- daily hormone injections, colonics, and a calorie intake restriction requiring a doctor's supervision. The Court concluded that Mr. Trudeau misled thousands of consumers and held Mr. Trudeau in contempt for violating the Permanent Injunction.
ER: What will be the next step following Trudeau's contempt of court ruling?
Kapin: The court has scheduled a hearing in April to determine an appropriate remedy for Mr. Trudeau's contemptuous conduct.
ER: ERA has been receiving calls from consumers questioning why they still see Trudeau's infomercial on television. What do we say to them?
Kapin: At this point, no one should be seeing this infomercial on television anymore. We have received correspondence from counsel representing the entities that distribute the infomercial, and they have agreed to either modify the infomercials to take out the deceptive claims, or cease running the infomercials at all on both broadcast media and via the Internet. So, as of this point, our understanding is that these infomercials have been pulled. If anyone is still seeing these infomercials with claims that Mr. Trudeau's protocol is easy and allows consumers to eat whatever they want, we want to know about it. Specifically with particular information as to when it was broadcast, what channels, what geographic region; that is very much a concern to us because they have assured us that these infomercials have been pulled and are no longer running via the Internet or on broadcast media. We want to make sure that consumers are no longer exposed to Mr. Trudeau's misrepresentations about his weight-loss cure book.
ER: Trudeau's lawyer once claimed, "Whether he's right or wrong is for the public to decide, not the government." What would you say to that?
Kapin: I would say that Mr. Trudeau agreed to abide by a permanent injunction where he represented to the court, to everyone, that he would not misrepresent the content of his infomercials. So it's up to the Federal Trade Commission as a protector of consumers from deceptive actions to enforce its orders. Consumers always can vote with their pocketbooks, but the FTC has an obligation to make sure that individuals abide by their promises to the court, especially when its an individual like Mr. Trudeau, who has been before this very court in three separate actions now. He's already been held in contempt by this very same Court in 2004. Mr. Trudeau is a recidivist, and therefore, we have an obligation to make sure Mr. Trudeau abides by the Court's Orders.
ER: Following up on that, have you come across any consumers that have been pleased with their recent purchase of Trudeau's book?
Kapin: We haven't spoken to any consumers who are pleased with the purchase of the book. But, the issue isn't really whether consumers are pleased with the purchase; the issue is whether Mr. Trudeau has misrepresented the content of the book in order to lure consumers into purchasing the book. That's the really the focus of our case.
ER: Some folks often complain about too much government interaction. However, following such a long line of deceitful advertising, are there any institutions in place that will help keep Trudeau off the airwaves in the future?
Kapin: Well, I can't speak for other branches of government that might pursue Mr. Trudeau for deceptive conduct. It's the FTC's obligation to ensure that Mr. Trudeau complies with our regulations and particularly with permanent injunctions that are entered into after already violating consumer protection laws. So, really our focus is on making sure that Mr. Trudeau complies with our consumer protection laws and Court Ordered Injunctions.
ER: As a magazine that serves many noble e-retailers, how does an incident like this impact the industry?
Kapin: I think that every retailer has an obligation to ensure that they deal in a straightforward manner with consumers. I think the more that retailers deal with consumers in a truthful manner, the more the entire industry benefits. Consumers really base their views of the industry on their individual experiences with certain retailers, and when they're treated well and able to reach a live person on the phone to address their problems, or when they get a product that does what it was advertised to do, I think that goes a long way in giving consumers confidence in dealing with retailers in the brick-and-mortar world and the electronic retailing world.
