If you’re shopping online for healthcare products and you see a seal stating that the product is “Doctor Trusted,” chances are you feel better about buying it because it’s been evaluated by a team of independent doctors. Sadly, such is not the case with SmartClick Media LLC’s “Doctor Trusted” certification program. It turns out the Doctor Trusted seal can’t be trusted, after all.
If you’re shopping online for healthcare products and you see a seal stating that the product is “Doctor Trusted,” chances are you feel better about buying it because it’s been evaluated by a team of independent doctors. Sadly, such is not the case with SmartClick Media LLC’s “Doctor Trusted” certification program. It turns out the Doctor Trusted seal can’t be trusted, after all.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) brought suit against SmartClick and owner Robert Vozdecky. SmartClick also does business as “Doctor Trusted,” which makes sense. Mr. Vozdecky also goes by the name “Bill Anderson,” which makes no sense at all, but is not particularly relevant to this story.
The FTC, whose website states their mission as being “To prevent business practices that are anticompetitive or deceptive or unfair to consumers; to enhance informed consumer choice and public understanding of the competitive process; and to accomplish this without unduly burdening legitimate business activity,” filed suit against Mr. Vozdecky and SmartClick on June 16 claiming that the company was deceiving people through the use of the Doctor Trusted seal.
The suit claimed the defendants violated the FTC Act by putting forth “Misrepresentations or deceptive omissions of material fact [that] constitute deceptive acts or practices prohibited by Section 5(a) of the FTC Act.”
As Jessica Rich, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection said, “Consumers should be able to rely on seals and certificates for accurate information on how products are tested and evaluated. Unfortunately, in this case, they were completely misled by the sellers of the ‘Doctor Trusted’ program.”
Not only was SmartClick’s practice deceptive to consumers, but the company aggressively marketed it to real sites selling health products like dietary supplements. These businesses were victims of SmartClick’s deceit when they relied upon the following claims made by the defendants, as listed in the FTC’s complaint. Any emphasis appears in the original complaint.
“Defendants have made the following representations:
- If I told you that you could increase your online sales at [your website] by 10%, 20%, or even 30% overnight by inserting a few lines of code into your website, would you believe it?
- What if there was a way to establish instant trust?
- Our service does just that by placing a Doctor Trusted seal and certificate on your website.
- While other seals focus on technical security, the Doctor Trusted seal is a third-party endorsement by a medical doctor that creates a much deeper level of credibility for your website.
- An unbiased medical doctor will review your website, check your advertising claims, and performs [sic] due diligence on your business.
- Our endorsement is one of the most effective ways to increase sales with the least amount of effort.”
The FTC’s complaint further states, “From June 2013 until at least October 2015, Defendants’ Doctor Trusted seal included the words ‘Doctor Trusted’ along with the words ‘click to verify’ and a stamp that displayed the current date, which appeared next to the word ‘Active.’ The seal often included a stock photo of a male or female doctor with a stethoscope in a lab coat.”
In fact, the “unbiased medical doctors” were found via a source for freelance doctors and only gave the products a cursory examination before rubber stamping them “Doctor Trusted.”
The suit was settled recently, along with claims that other websites owned by the company were not independent lifestyle blogs or health product review sites, but instead were cleverly disguised advertisement sites. One such site is betterlivingjournal.org.
A proposed stipulated final order has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, as was the original complaint. Some of the terms of the order include prohibition of the defendants from :
- further such misrepresentation of medical expertise used for product evaluation;
- representing themselves as not-for-profit or consumer protection organizations;
- misrepresenting how often products and services are examined and certified; and
- putting forth websites or other public documents claiming to be independent review sources.
The order further mandates that SmartClick and Mr. Vozdecky must state if website content or other public documents they produce are ads and not objective reviews. They must also disclose material connections between themselves and the products in question, as well as paying $35,000.00. This payment will partially suspend a judgment against the defendants in the amount of $603,588.00.
Once the judge approves and signs the stipulated final order, it will have the full force of law.
So, dear consumers, be warned! The Doctor Trusted seal can’t be trusted, after all. It’s advisable to conduct your own search for real independent product reviews and evaluations and base your purchasing decisions on those. The sad truth about this whole mess is that the roughly 800 websites that bought the Doctor Trusted seal and certification may actually have decent products. It remains to be seen if this scandal negatively impacts those who are truly innocent of any wrongdoing.
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