<story><title>Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app</title><url>https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/01/lumosity-pay-2-million-settle-ftc-deceptive-advertising-charges</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kazinator</author><text>The way I see it, they tapped into a &lt;i&gt;widely held belief&lt;/i&gt;, rather than fears. It is a popular belief that doing mental work staves off cognitive decline (including age-related). I bet you that everyone at Lumosity actually believes it because their mother told them that when they were kids.&lt;p&gt;My wife (Japanese) always says &amp;quot;good for older people&amp;quot; about any sort of puzzle. She didn&amp;#x27;t get this from being deceived by Lumosity.&lt;p&gt;The FTC is being very heavy-handed here.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s like someone sold carrots claiming they improve vision, and got thrown in jail.&lt;p&gt;Testimonials being paid for shills? Like, say it ain&amp;#x27;t so. Every damed  commercial you&amp;#x27;ve ever seen in your life has fake people presenting fake testimonials. It&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;assumed&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;(Claiming that doing puzzles can stave off Alzheimer&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; going somewhat far, though. That disease has specific physiological causes which can&amp;#x27;t be reversed through brain activity.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nkrisc</author><text>&amp;gt; It&amp;#x27;s like someone sold carrots claiming they improve vision, and got thrown in jail.&lt;p&gt;No, it&amp;#x27;s not. It&amp;#x27;s like they were appropriately fined for profiting off unproven medical claims.&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Testimonials being paid for shills? Like, say it ain&amp;#x27;t so. Every damed commercial you&amp;#x27;ve ever seen in your life has fake people presenting fake testimonials. It&amp;#x27;s assumed.&lt;p&gt;And they&amp;#x27;re labelled as an actor representation. Giving them a pass because it&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;assumed&amp;quot; is irresponsible and harmful to those who might not otherwise know.</text></comment>
<story><title>Lumosity fined $2M for deceptive ads of “Brain Training” app</title><url>https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/01/lumosity-pay-2-million-settle-ftc-deceptive-advertising-charges</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>kazinator</author><text>The way I see it, they tapped into a &lt;i&gt;widely held belief&lt;/i&gt;, rather than fears. It is a popular belief that doing mental work staves off cognitive decline (including age-related). I bet you that everyone at Lumosity actually believes it because their mother told them that when they were kids.&lt;p&gt;My wife (Japanese) always says &amp;quot;good for older people&amp;quot; about any sort of puzzle. She didn&amp;#x27;t get this from being deceived by Lumosity.&lt;p&gt;The FTC is being very heavy-handed here.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s like someone sold carrots claiming they improve vision, and got thrown in jail.&lt;p&gt;Testimonials being paid for shills? Like, say it ain&amp;#x27;t so. Every damed  commercial you&amp;#x27;ve ever seen in your life has fake people presenting fake testimonials. It&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;assumed&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;(Claiming that doing puzzles can stave off Alzheimer&amp;#x27;s &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; going somewhat far, though. That disease has specific physiological causes which can&amp;#x27;t be reversed through brain activity.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ebbv</author><text>&amp;gt; The FTC is being very heavy-handed here.&lt;p&gt;Are you kidding me? A quick Google search turned up revenue of $24 million in 2013. 2014 and 2015 numbers did not come up on my quick search, but I&amp;#x27;d imagine based on the amount of advertising they do it&amp;#x27;s at least held steady. And then there&amp;#x27;s the many millions of investment dollars they received before that. $2 million is not even a slap on the wrist. It&amp;#x27;s like blowing in their ear gently.&lt;p&gt;As far as Lumosity believing their own claims, first this is not a mom and pop store. They have the resources to know for sure whether or not it&amp;#x27;s true, and they have a duty to find that out before making claims. Second, I don&amp;#x27;t buy it. Anybody with half a brain knows it&amp;#x27;s baloney.&lt;p&gt;Lastly, as far as I can see they&amp;#x27;re not being forced to make amends to the customers they ripped off, nor to make public apologies for false claims AND if they can gin up some bullshit study to support their claims (shouldn&amp;#x27;t be hard with their resources), they can continue making them.&lt;p&gt;Also the whole time this lawsuit has been going on, I&amp;#x27;ve been hearing claims that don&amp;#x27;t differ much from the ones in violation on NPR constantly. Just enough to skirt the law.&lt;p&gt;Heavy handed my left foot.</text></comment>