This is no time for snake oil
PUBLISHED : 30 JAN 2021 AT 04:00
NEWSPAPER SECTION: NEWS
Weeks after popular emcee Patcharasri "Kalamae" Benjamas and her dietary supplements hit the headlines, the Food and Drug Administration has lodged a complaint with police against her for exaggerating the quality of her product range.
The agency also ordered all her advertisements on social media and other channels to be pulled.
Patcharasri had told her followers that her food supplement product, "Botera", which was approved by the FDA, has firmed up her skin, and removed her wrinkles and bags under her eyes. She also claimed that she didn't need to resort to cosmetic surgery because the product changed her facial features to look more chiselled.
She claimed she had only spoken of her own experience, without "exaggerating".
However, the TV personality has already faced seven charges of false advertising, and this is just one of the many similar endorsement cases Thailand has seen in recent years.
In 2019, more than a dozen of her luminaries found themselves in similar legal strife after they advertised Magic Skin cosmetics.
Dietary supplements, cosmetics and alternative medicines generate several billion baht each year, and there are many scams, false claims and ruses used to reel in the gullible.
The FDA and the National Broadcasting Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) said they took action over more than 1,300 false advertisements on social media and online for these goods.
That is a negligible figure when placed alongside the proliferation of online, radio and TV ads the industry bombards consumers with. Companies that produce food supplements, traditional medicines and farm chemicals are among the big sponsors on the radio, especially in the provinces. Many of them appear to exaggerate their claims.
Some supplements can be dangerous and even cause death if consumed in excess, such as in the case of an old man who died of kidney failure after gorging on one supplement containing a popular caterpillar fungus claimed to have health benefits.
The Foundation for Consumers has also warned of a common trick by some product manufacturers who boast of FDA approval stamps yet the products don't match the certification being used to sell them. In cases like this, how many consumers will take the time to research themselves how applicable these certificates are? Or whether they are just a means to give unearned credence to the false claims made by the likes of Patcharisri about "Botera."
As the foundation noted, social media is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it helps so many small-scale business operators get started, but on the other, it makes it easier to sell illegal or dangerous products unchallenged.
The foundation is right to point out that the law on food, in particular, is too lenient.
The authorities must consider drafting in the use of other relevant laws, like the Computer Crime Act or those against fraud which carries heavier punishment. Currently, those found guilty of selling unapproved supplements or cosmetics face only a 5,000-baht fine.
Moreover, the NBTC should step up its work with consumer groups to raise radio and TV advertisement standards.
While crackdowns help, educating people how to spot a charlatan is the only way to truly put an end to the practices of these snake oil salesmen and women.
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