From the inside out

We planned to take our product — which we called Moisturol but was really just Nestle Quik in a pill — to marketing companies to see if anyone would be willing to help make an infomercial for us, to help us sell our useless skin care product.

Now, armed with hidden cameras, beginning in February of 2004, Dateline set up a series of meetings with infomercial companies we had found on the Internet.

The search for an infomercial producer
First stop, Arizona, where we met with a company that had made infomercials for weight loss products. We told them our idea for Moisturol. They asked if we had clinical studies. After we left, they never pursued a follow-up meeting.

We moved on to New York. There, we met with another company that had made infomercials for weight loss and penile enlargement products. This company wanted extra money from the sales of Moisturol down the road. Since we knew we were never going to sell it, we moved on.

Next stop, Las Vegas, where we met a representative of a third infomercial company. The man we met at that time was the president of a large infomercial production company based on the West Coast. His company had experience. And according to its Web site, big-name clients, including Universal Studios, owned by NBC’s parent company.  And no record of any government fines for producing deceptive ads.

We knew we’d have to make up a few things about Moisturol, a cover story if you will, to get the project off the ground. So we told the infomercial makers that an amateur inventor had come up with the formula, and thought maybe half the people who tried Moisturol would feel a difference. But we also waved what we thought were some very bright red warning flags. We repeatedly told the marketers that we had no proof at all that Moisturol worked—and we had no scientific tests behind our product.

That’s when we asked him the key question.

Dateline as Johnston Products (hidden camera): So I guess my question to you is… how important is it that it really works?

Infomercial producer: Well for us if it doesn’t work at all, we wouldn’t wanna get involved. If it works for a percentage of people, we would feel more comfortable then…

Dateline: What percentage? 70? 50?

Infomercial producer: Well that’s a weird question because in the right circumstances, dirk, if it works for one out of four people we might feel comfortable. We won’t sell something that doesn’t work at all or that’s potentially dangerous. But if it only worked for one out of four people y’know and those people buy it on a regular basis, then you have a business.

One out of four? Without any proof, how could we claim it worked for one out of four? Under federal law, infomercial makers can be held responsible for deceptive claims if they knew, or should have known the claims have no reasonable basis. So did the company president press us harder for more evidence? He told us there were ways around scientific proof.

Infomercial producer: The other way you could do it is you could do fake clinicals as part of the creative… what we’re doing is...

Fake clinicals?

Producer: Well they’re not quite clinicals but the way you do it is you say "Does it work? We’re gonna show you."

One of the marketer’s ideas was to gather a small group of people to try Moisturol and talk about whether it worked for them. It wouldn’t have any scientific value, but viewers might think it did.

Producer: So you’re not coming out and saying we’ve proven anything. You’re just more or less saying, hey, it’s part of the creative..

The company said one thing we would likely need would be an expert.

We asked if we would need an M.D. to give Moisturol a ‘stamp of approval.’

Producer: You’re gonna want somebody in a white coat saying it works and it’s safe.

Dateline as Johnston Products: So you’re confident we can find somebody?

Producer: Oh, its never a question of can you find somebody. It’s a question of how good are they. And how much do they want?

Dateline as Johnston Products: It’s all negotiable?

Producer: Everybody has their price!

But what about the government, the Federal Trade Commission? Wouldn’t we get in trouble making deceptive claims? We were told that the company knows the rules, and how to avoid problems.

Producer: You won’t have to worry about the FTC if it doesn’t hurt people. We know exactly what you can say, what you can’t say, and how to disclaim what you wanna say but you got a question about it. And what you can say in a way that they’re not gonna y’know come after you.

The infomercial maker did ask us how the product worked. So we bought a box of Nestle Quik, and looked at the list of ingredients on the side, which included, of course, cocoa.

We sent them published information we’d found in a quick search of Google, on how the same ingredients that go into Nestle Quik might somehow help promote healthy skin. Biotin, for example, promotes cell growth; zinc oxide protects skin from solar damage. But we sent them nothing claiming those ingredients would moisturize skin from the inside out.

We wanted to make sure the company understood once and for all that we had no real proof Moisturol worked. So we sent them this e-mail to remind them we had done “no clinical trials,” that we had “no doctors” behind the product. And that we had “no scientific evidence” Moisturol worked at all. If infomercial maker was going to back out—because we clearly couldn’t substantiate any of the claims we had made, as the government requires— we figured this would be the time.

Our answer came in an e-mail reply in just 11 minutes. The company was not backing out, in fact, just the opposite: They agreed to, “find the host, expert doctor, and create the right marketing approach to give you maximum results.” And to “determine the best way to create credibility and market the product to the masses.”

Finally, the infomercial maker sent us a contract confirming Johnston Products substantiated all the claims we’d made to the company, and that broadcasting the infomercial or selling the product as intended by the agreement would not violate any laws or FTC rules. We signed it, because we knew we would never sell the product, so we knew we’d never be violating any laws.

With the contract signed, it was time to watch the company begin marketing the magic of Moisturol.

First step: a strategy session
We told the company that while we were confident it would work, we did not think people who took Moisturol would see dramatic results. The president had this response:

Infomercial producer: Even if there aren’t noticeable physical differences, and I think that you know, let’s go into it assuming that there’s not going to be, and if there is, then great. We’re pleasantly surprised. But if there’s not, then we really want to talk everything about how it felt…

In other words, we did not have to tell people the product worked, we could still sell it by talking about feelings.

Producer: The thing about it all being visual, it either is or it isn’t—but with feeling there’s a much wider range of interpretation.

The company told us that in 10 weeks, it would deliver a finished half-hour infomercial suitable for air on any TV station in America. The price? More than $140,000 dollars.

And when we started writing checks—as they like to say in the infomercial industry “we began seeing results almost immediately.”

Finding a host, people for testimonials, and a script
The next step? Finding a host.

Host: With just a single tablet once a day you’ll be on your way to glowing younger looking skin. 

Then, people to offer testimonials. The infomercial makers found women to sample Moisturol.

Next, the company sent us a script. And we approved it without changing a word. Finally, remember what the president said about finding a medical expert?

Producer: Everybody has their price!

Apparently he was right. The company found a doctor to endorse Moisturol in exchange for $5,000.

Her name was Margaret Olson. How would she justify endorsing our pills? In July 2004, four months after our first meeting, we were about to get our first look at the finished infomercial for a useless skin product called Moisturol.

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