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Smartphones Can't Cure Acne, FTC Rules

Posted by timothy on from the that-is-one-spiteful-ftc dept.

jfruhlinger writes "Your smartphone can send texts, surf the Web, and update your Facebook page, so it stands to reason that it can cure acne too, right? Well, maybe not. Two companies that marketed acne-cure apps have settled with the FTC and have been forced to take the apps off the market. (Colored light can kill acne-causing bacteria, but needs to be much more powerful than what a smartphone screen can put out.) Almost 15,000 people bought the apps."

8 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. at some point... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    At some point we need to stop protecting people from mind-boggling levels of stupidity, or it just allows people to get away with being even *dumber*.

    I think people should be able to market apps like this. If it claims to do something that is physically impossible, and you pay for it, well, it's your own fault for being such an idiot. Because you're probably not *really* that dumb, you just decided you'd rather not bother to think.

    Seriously, what ever happened to spending 5 seconds doing a rudimentary level of critical thought?

    -s
     

    1. Re:at some point... by DanTheStone · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People have been selling snake oil (fish oil? placebos?) for a very long time. A huge portion of marketing is misleading. You need to learn not to fall for it, not have people try to hide the whole world full of scammers from you. The same ability to sort out bullshit applies to prescription drugs, diets, vitamin supplements, and everything else people try to sell you.

    2. Re:at some point... by Hatta · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You need to learn not to fall for it, not have people try to hide the whole world full of scammers from you. The same ability to sort out bullshit applies to prescription drugs, diets, vitamin supplements,

      mission statements, campaign promises, sermons...

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  2. You know what? by SilverHatHacker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

    --
    Funny may not give karma, but +5 Informative never made anyone snort coffee out their nose.
  3. Re:only 15k people? by frisket · · Score: 1, Insightful

    All scams involve a movement of money from stupid people to smart people (that includes, of course, our current economic crisis, which is just a banking scam to get money out of gullible governments). Maybe teens are just getting smarter. I'd love to know the geopolitical demographics of those 15,000 though.

  4. Homeopathy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So how come they get fined while producers of homeopathic "medicines" don't?
    I'm asking seriously.

  5. Re:only 15k people? by slippyblade · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Or, here's another thought... Maybe the person's life is so miserable they see that splurge of eating out after payday as the one bright spot in an otherwise desperate and pathetic existence. Or maybe they are stupid. It's sometimes hard to tell the difference.

  6. Re:only 15k people? by nedlohs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What a completely useless tautology.

    Yes "if you do the things that make you X, you will be X". After all that's what "things that make you X" means by definition.

    The problen is there us no X that will make you rich univerally. That garbage book is just full of things that happened to work in one particular time frame (along with the completely made up). How did all the people who took his advice and invested in real estate in 2006 do?