5 examples of marketing deception
Scientists have once again proved that homeopathy doesn’t work. This time they analyzed 176 cases and found that each of them has had only a placebo effect. Despite this, the homeopathy industry is thriving. So, in 2015, sales of homeopathic remedies were to reach $115 billion And this is not the only example of a multi-billion dollar industry that promote products with unproven efficacy. “The secret” says, in what other areas sales have been increasing, despite the skepticism of scientists.
Medications
“Efficiency is about 90% of drugs sold in the world, has not been proven by modern standards, 70% of them do not possess any significant efficacy,” says Professor of the Moscow medical Academy named after Sechenov, academician of the Russian Academy of medical Sciences Pavel Vorobiev. The number of completely worthless drugs on the Russian market he estimated at 30%. But drugs, whose effectiveness is questionable, not stop to sell.
For example, the popular drug “Essentiale” for the prevention and treatment of liver diseases has become the sales leader in December 2015, with the Formulary Committee RAMS called its effectiveness is unproven. In the case of alcoholism he does is useless. Back in 2003, clinical trials showed that the effect of taking the main active ingredient — essential phospholipids — comparable to the placebo effect. Questionable medicine is also referred to as “Arbidol” — it refused to enroll in the American management on control of quality of drugs and products. Vorobyov argues that evidence does not exist. However “Arbidol” ranks second in popularity among antiviral drugs (in 2015, the sale of “Arbidol” fell by 22%, but the manufacturer “Noticefrom” this explains the lack of season respiratory virus diseases and increasing competition).
Doctors, and most importantly, consumers have become used to certain products, especially if they continue to advertise. Pharmaceutical companies spend huge amounts of money to promote products, hoping to recover costs on their development. The sum of the losses of pharmaceutical companies the sales of all ineffective drugs would be calculated in the hundreds of billions (the volume of the Russian pharmaceutical market in 2015 amounted to 1.3 trillion roubles).
Diet
On diets many earn — from individual consultants to corporations. The company’s revenue Weight Watchers, help to buy products and tools to lose weight, in 2015 amounted to $1,16 billion Weight Watchers, like many other players in the market, offers its own unique program. Consumers spend money on one and on another a new diet, hoping that it will help. But back in 2007, American researchers have shown that differences in effectiveness between different types of diets minor. However, new prescription weight loss appear every year.
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People continue to spend time and money even on those diets that won’t work. The British dietetic Association in 2011 called the Dukan diet completely unscientific and unhealthy. According to experts, it is unbalanced and can lead to a variety of health problems. The researchers acknowledge that it is possible to quickly lose weight, but I don’t see evidence of a prolonged effect of the diet: the French journal Le Journal des Femmes Sante found that the majority of the followers of the diet regained lost weight within a few years.
Organic products
The label “No pesticides”, “No artificial additives” and the like — a great marketing ploy. In 2015 the market volume of organic edisontel $72 million, and in the next five years it should grow by 16% annually. However, evidence that organic food is healthier, yet. Scientists from Stanford University have analyzed more than 200 studies in this area and concluded that the state of health of those who eat organic and conventional products, there are no serious differences.
Despite this, the army of fans natural does not decrease. They claim that organic food is tastier than usual. But British researchers from Abertay University has denied the allegation. They invited people to try identical products, saying that some of them organic. Study participants admitted that organic food seemed tastier. The study’s author Dr. Boyko Bratanov concluded that this is great news for organic producers, a trend that is growing regardless of scientific research.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture massage (acupuncture) remains one of the most popular forms of alternative medicine. With new studies showing the ineffectiveness of the treatments that appear every year. To estimate the earnings of clinics and individual specialists in acupuncture is difficult, but it is millions of dollars per year (the global market for alternative medicine is more than $30 billion). Trend reversal is not in sight — there are even books that teach how to make money on acupuncture.
Sunscreen
Environmental organization Environmental Working Group (EWG) conducted a study of the American sunscreen and came to the conclusion that 80% of them are ineffective and even harmful.
“Many products do not provide adequate protection from UVA rays. Some contain hazardous chemicals such as oxybenzone or retinil palmitat,” says senior researcher of the EWG Dave Andrews. The expert stressed that oxybenzone may cause damage to the hormonal system, and retinil palmitat — it will cause damage up to cancer.
In the black list includes such brands as Banana Boat, Coppertone, CVS, and Neutrogena. However, their manufacturers are unlikely to face the drop in sales — all of them have already appeared in the list previously and are still market leaders, both American and world. On the EWG considered that the Management standards for quality control of food and medicines too low, therefore, ineffective products go on sale. The consumers do not listen to the results of alternative research and take the usual product from the shelf.
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