FTC Attacks Infomercial Marketer to Silence Best-Selling Author's Weight...( Direct Marketing Concepts Inc. et ...),Health

Direct Marketing Concepts, Inc. et al. Fights FTC for First Amendment

Rights

BOSTON, Mass., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) expanded its campaign to silence best-selling author and activist Kevin Trudeau's criticism of the government by filing an action against Direct Marketing Concepts, Inc. (DMC), and Donald Barrett et al., today for marketing Trudeau's latest book, Weight Loss Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About. After filing a lawsuit against Trudeau concerning ideas expressed in his book, the FTC further proceeded against the book's advertisements, alleging the infomercial is misleading as it describes the book's weight-loss protocols as "easy."

DMC, based in Beverly, Mass., promotes educational materials and natural dietary supplements, such as the popular supplements Sea Vegg(R) and FlexProtex(R), through infomercials touting the products' health benefits.

Although the FTC disagrees with ideas expressed in the book and infomercial, it has maintained a history of tacitly approving advertisements that merely repeat opinions expressed in books, which are protected by the First Amendment. Despite this rule, known as the "mirror-image" rule, the FTC has continuously taken legal action to suppress Trudeau's opinions on weight- loss and alternative medicine in hopes to silence his controversial statements about government agencies.

"It is disheartening to me that the FTC would spend tax payers' dollars on legal action designed to stop an author from expressing his beliefs," said Donald Barrett, founder and President of DMC. "The FTC is desperately seeking new ways to suppress Mr. Trudeau's opinions and prevent millions of readers from hearing what he has to say about government agencies and American health care."

Mr. Barrett stated that he is preparing to counter-sue the FTC for violating his First Amendment rights to promote ideas and opinions expressed in a bo
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