Media and Product Types

Three hundred advertisements for 218
different products or services were collected and
reviewed. A list of the products is included in
Appendix A. Table 1 identifies the number of ads
for each type of medium.21
The advertisements covered virtually every
kind of product or service imaginable. Categories
with 10 or more advertisements included: dietary
supplements (157), meal replacements (e.g., diet
shakes) (33), hypnosis (27), food (15), diet
plans/programs/diet centers (21), transdermal products (patches and creams) (11), and wraps (10).
Some ads promoted multiple products, and in some instances, it was not possible to determine the
product category based solely on the advertisement. Only about half (49%) of the advertisements
for dietary supplement or transdermal products disclosed the product’s active ingredients in the
Figure 1: Prevalence of Claims – All Media
advertisement.
Table 1: Number of Ads by Media Type
Medium Number of Ads
Newspaper/FSI 85
Magazine 68
Tabloids 19
Internet 44
Commercial email 41
Direct Mail 27
Radio 13
Broadcast 7
Infomercial 5