Kinda OT - photoshop fraud | Arthritis Information

 

Before & After Fraud Photos

I have a pet peeve. I don't want to start ranting here but for years I've been irked by people who believe that before & after photos are the absolute proof - the litmus test - of whether or not a training program works. Last month I got an e-mail from someone who literally said, "Science and numbers don't mean anything without photos that show proof."

*sigh*

Listen, I've been around this fitness game for nearly twenty years now and I can tell you without reservation there is nothing - absolutely nothing - more rife with outright fraud than the before & after photos that accompany diet, nutritional supplement and training program ads.

Want proof?

As this is written (Feb 2009) one of the fashionable, hyped diets right now involves the acai berry. This obscure little berry is just the supplement de jour and in a few months it will be replaced by some other obscure fruit, vegetable, bark or root that will be sold the same dishonest way with claims of fantastic fat loss, huge muscle gain and enormous increases in energy and vitality.

Question: If you had a product that really worked, would you resort to the following tactics to sell it?

Meet Nicholle, Kathy and Jenny!

Notice the photos of Nicholle Stevenson, Kathy Thompson and Jenny Conrad? They look quite similar, wouldn't you say? Also notice that they lost 35, 23 and 25 pounds respectively.

I copied these images (took screen shots, to be exact) from three different websites designed to look like personal blogs of women who are telling the world about their diets and weight loss success.

If you want, you can visit the websites at these links: Nicholle Kathy Jenny

 

 

 

 

The first thing you notice is that every "personal blog" is almost identical in content, including YouTube clips about acai berries, undoubtedly unauthorized photos of Oprah, personal details involving husbands and children, etc. My personal favorite is the fake "comments" cheering about the product and saying "I'm ordering right now." And get this - the fake comments use IP filtering so if you leave a message telling everyone "this is total fraud and a scam" the only person who sees the post is YOU. How clever is that? Evil genius, I'd say.

(continued on web site; follow link above)

freaking WOW> what I found fascinating is that "kathy Thompson" is from Wellsville.  well.... I am from Wellsville, and its a very small town.. ummmm she doesnt look the least bit familiar.HA! I have been seeing these types of photos in Hydroxycut ads. Recently in the drugstore I checked out the packaging. Not only did it seem like there was not a thing in these suuplement/drugs that would seem to promote weight loss...they all clearly say that the people with results were also following a diet and exercise program. HMMMMMM maybe that's why they lost weight? Also the photos definitely looked doctored up. I also saw a woman on TV a couple of years ago that was paid to gain weight.  They took before and after photos and didn't photoshop them - they just used the after photo as the before and vice versa!Wouldn't it be so nice to be be able to take a pill and not only lose weight but get those defined abs and the lifted, firm boobs as well? All with no exercise, weight training or surgical enhancement! Wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where people are judged for the size of their heart instead of the size of their butt? [QUOTE=Hillhoney]Wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where people are judged for the size of their heart instead of the size of their butt?[/QUOTE]

Amen to that.  
My wife is a photographer so I know all about photoshop too.  Maybe I can take a pic of myself and photoshop away the prednisone moon face!  I love those hydroxycut commercials too they are pretty funny.  Mainly because in most of the before shots the people looked fine to me to begin with.  There is so much you cna do with photoshop, TIm used it all the time and made beautiful pics......better than any you could get done professionally I always thought.

I am so sick of ads and lies to sell a product. I just laugh, it is almost a a desperate attempt to make a sell in this economic hardship time.

I am one of those people that doesn't judge the look of a person. It is like a Christmas present....it is not the package the gift comes in but what is inside that counts.

Oh here I go again missin' TIm and the house and the dog.............

IT is the ads for the RA drugs that crack me up.......THey never show an individual in the throws of a flare , vomiting and lethargic from the drugs, or an allergic reaction to them, ect. THey make the drugs look like the person is takingan asprin or something.

I guess all we have to do it turn off the TV. , and play with photoshop! (wink)
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