FTC Bans ‘Acne Cure’ Smartphone Apps
If you were one of the 15,000 people suckered into thinking that there really was an app for curing your acne we hope that you get your $1.99 back. But if not, we want you at least to understand why your easy cure was a dupe.
According to their settlement agreement with the FTC, marketers who advertised that their smartphone applications could treat acne agreed to stop making baseless claims in order to settle charges in early September.
FTC Chairman, Jon Leibowit said,”Smartphones make our lives easier in countless ways, but unfortunately when it comes to curing acne, there’s no app for that.”
Cosmetic and medical dermatologist Dr. Neal Schultz said what outraged him the most about these marketers claims were that they were so unfair to people who suffer from acne breakouts.
“It said it was going to ‘kill acne’ as if it was actually able to cure it,” Dr. Schultz said.
He explained to me that there is actually no way, in the forseeable future, that a cell phone would have enough power to actually be a reliable acne fighter.”They just do not have enough energy.”
He said that there are a few at-home devices that could potentially reduce breakouts, but you can achieve almost the same results by using a warm wash cloth on your skin.
Dr. Schultz recognizes that the price for an app was small, but the emotional damage caused to consumers is what really bothered him.
“People are desperate to be beautiful,” Dr. Schultz said. “It is their gateway into society and they were being taken advantage of and exploited.”
