If your BS detector doesn’t already go off when you watch commercials for Enzyte “Natural Male Enhancement,” then listen to what a former vice president of the company that manufactured the product had to say about it:
James Teegarden Jr., the former vice president of operations at Berkeley Premium Nutraceuticals, explained Tuesday in U.S. District Court how he and others at the company made up much of the content that appeared in Enzyte ads.
He said employees of the Forest Park company created fictitious doctors to endorse the pills, fabricated a customer satisfaction survey and made up numbers to back up claims about Enzyte’s effectiveness.
“So all this is a fiction?” Judge S. Arthur Spiegel asked about some of the claims.
“That’s correct, your honor,” Teegarden said.
The company’s founder, Steve Warshak, is on trial, facing 20 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines if convicted. More goodness from the VP:
When customers ordered a product, the company’s goal was to keep charging their credit cards for as long as possible, Teegarden said.He said first-time customers were automatically enrolled in a “continuity program” that sent Enzyte to their homes every month and charged their credit cards without authorization.
“Without continuity, the company wouldn’t exist,” Teegarden said. “It was the sole profit of the business.”
If customers complained, he said, employees were instructed to “make it as difficult as possible” for them to get their money back. In some cases, Teegarden said, Warshak required customers to produce a notarized statement from a doctor certifying Enzyte did not work.
“He said it was extremely unlikely someone would get anything notarized saying they had a small penis,” Teegarden said.
What a jackass. Here’s the worst part. In order to keep the company from losing its ability to accept credit card payments, they would make small unauthorized charges on their customer’s credit cards. This made it appear to Visa and Mastercard that a smaller percentage of their transactions were resulting in charge backs, and allowed them to keep accepting new customers. Evil.
Former exec: ‘Enzyte’ ads all lies [Cincinnati Enquirer via Fleshbot (NSFW)]
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@diamondmaster1: I kinda assumed that was the case as well. Otherwise, he’s been taking too much of his own product or something
“Ma ballz is so big, I can implicate myself to congress and not get cau.. damint!”
I wouldn’t take any “male enhancement” drug that isn’t FDA approved. Even, it it WERE approved, I wouldn’t take it anyway. Plus the smiling dude is totally creepy.
Finally, the government calls someone on their phony ads and “scientific data.”
@gokor: I actually was at a wrestling show hanging out with Ron Jeremy, because I was working backstage and he was making a guest appearance, and he was like “yeah, don’t take any of that crap (speaking of the stuff he was paid to hawk in late night infotainment ads), it makes you dependent on it for performance, you won’t be able to sustain an erection if you’re not taking it.”
Surprisingly, he’s actually a very smart guy, and very cool with everyone.
Their website has the familiar FDA snake-oil disclaimer: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”
Also, see [www.enzyte.com] “Enzyte is a carefully blended formula of natural ingredients” such as ginkgo biloba, ginseng, horny goat weed (!!!), saw palmetto, etc. In other words, the same sort of stuff I can get at my local health-food store which prominently displays a list of ailments and the supplements that treat them. I’m certainly not condoning fraud or anything of the kind, but with products like this, you get what you pay for.
This is so far off-topic, but @m4ximusprim3: I loved “Celebrity Jeopardy” on Saturday Night Live – one of the very few things that made it watchable!
So, why are these frigging commercials still on? If the damn things have been found fraudulent and the executives are facing possible jail time, why are we still subjected to this crap. Are they allowed to dupe the ignorant all the way up to the prison gates?
While at times they do show a sense of humor, I find that them tedious and annoying.
Well, that only took, what, 3 YEARS to get to this? And that SHIT is still being aired on TV too! The web site is still up. Why has the judge not ordered them to shut down at once???
Christ. I would say the FDA moves about as fast as snail, but that would be doing an injustice to snails.
And because of the snail’s pace, there are a few other companies running the same scam.
The judge should just order the CEO and ALL employees of Enzyte to be taken out back and lynched.
So they “made up much of the content that appeared in Enzyte ads”… which is odd because I always found their ads to be just about as content-free as any I’ve ever seen.
Mind you it’s been about a year since I’ve watched any significant amount of TV, so maybe I just haven’t seen the latest ones.
@SOhp101: True, but some of the more adventurous slimeballs have gone as far as referring to “a certain part of the male anatomy”. Never knew there was such demand for bigger pinky toes.
The government should make it illegal for television stations to carry ads from obvious scams like these guys. Then prosecute them for doing it.
Seriously, why are the broadcasters not taking some responsibility for not accepting this advertising? They reject ads all the time.
@johnva:
I agree, but that pesky 1st Amendment keeps getting in the way of making $.
I wonder if they’ll let him take some Enzyte to prison for his new boyfriend(s).
@fergthecat:
Nah, the bulls are just all happy and waiting for his first overnight visit.
@JWISSICK: The FDA may have a lot of flaws, but this isn’t one of them. Blame the politicians who passed the ridiculous “supplements” law that took this stuff (along with all the other snake oil treatments for backache, insomnia, toxins in the soles of your feet, etc.) OUT of the FDA’s jurisdiction. Top of your list should be Senator Orrin Hatch, in whose state much of this stuff is manufactured.
So that’s why Enzyte is still running its Christmas-themed commercial with Smilin’ Bob as the “chubby” Santa. How anyone can believe this or any other “male enhancement” pill works is beyond me, but Enzyte’s commercials are at least entertaining.