Weight Loss Pills, Products, Potions Finally Falter

Pills, powders, and other quick fix potions are being disregarded by people who are through with their unfulfilled promises of rapid and easy weight loss.

The Food and Drink report whines that this decline is due to those ‘bogus’ weight loss supplements and food products, which are $3.7B dollar industry. It is hard to shed a tear for their exploitation of your hopes, and blatant use of come-hither advertising to skirt the need for long term lifestyle solutions.

From the article: There have been 29 new weight loss supplement products launched in the US from January to May 2008. Last year, GNPD recorded a total of 59 new weight loss supplement launches. The food category for weight loss recorded 167 new products in 2007 and 94 new products in the 2008 year to date.

Volatile salesAccording to Mintel, liquid and powder meal replacement drinks have dominated sales in the weight loss category, but this segment has also seen declined sales between 2004 and 2006, “reflecting the market’s overall poor performance”.

Why are consumers sour on the pills/products/potions? A huge factor are all the law suits, health problems, and the fact that they just don’t work in the long term.

“The FTC has prosecuted over 100 such cases since 1990, and by all indications appears to be tightening its regulatory methods in the near future. Furthermore, consumer worry about physical side effects and dependency also mitigate sales.”