This was the review that the supplement company posted on the same complaints site that it is suing. Problem is, Ribeiro’s lawyers say he has absolutely no connection to the product and he does not and never will endorse it.
We recently told you about the lawsuit filed by a weight-loss supplement company against an online complaints forum, claiming the website had illegally allowed customers to violate a non-disparagement clause by posting negative reviews. Now that supplement company is taking some heat for posting a supposedly bogus endorsement from actor Alfonso Ribeiro (AKA, the guy who played Carlton on Fresh Prince of Bel Air).
As part of the legal wrangling in this lawsuit, the supplement company recently attempted to purchase a “promoted” review on the complaints site. That review featured Ribeiro (currently dancing with fellow stars on ABC’s Dancing With The Stars) and said he’d “met and reviewed 4 users who had lost about 100 pound.”
The site allegedly denied the request for the ad, according to an affidavit [PDF] filed by the supplement company, alleging that this demonstrates that the complaints site does not take an “agnostic” approach to its reviews.
The company said the site’s operators “do not want consumers to have the ability to make informed decisions, but merely want to provide false, misleading and defamatory information.”
However, as Ars Technica points out, the “review” with Ribeiro was readily available on the complaints site as recently as Oct. 1.
The review was eventually taken down by the site, the owner explains in a court filing [PDF] of his own, after attorneys for Ribeiro contacted him to say their client had never endorsed this product.
“Not only does the Review falsely attribute quotes about the Product to Ribeiro, but also contains unauthorized uses of Ribeiro’s photograph to promote the product,” reads the letter from the actor’s lawyers. “Ribeiro unequivocally is not, has never been and has no intention of ever becoming a paid spokesperson of the Product. Furthermore, Ribeiro has never personally used the Product and in no manner whatsoever endorses the Product.”
The review was taken down from the complaints site, but until recently remained as a post on the supplement company’s Facebook page. That now also appears to have been removed.
by Chris Morran via Consumerist
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