Hello frankdirect,
This a very good question.
- "What specifically prompted the Electronic Retailers Association to
write an
official complaint letter to the FTC regarding BLUE STUFF?"
ABC News covered a portion of this on their 'Good Morning America'
show.
ABC News - GMA transcript
http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/gma/goodmorningamerica/gma020903_hunter_bluestuff.html
According to the article , the reasons behind this action are related
to the fact that the owner of the company that makes Blue Stuff (Jack
McClung) was making 'unsubstantiated' claims. This document from ABC
News also goes on to note that the ERA (Electronic Retailers
Association) was concerned the product
was targeting people who were very vulnerable.
In the intro of the document there is a sample of the claims that the
ETC is protesting. One of the Blue Stuff infomercials has a stroke
victim praising the product. The ETC thinks this is a little overboard
without validating the claims. In addition, the infomercial was in the
#1 spot in the cable rankings
done by the ETC in March of 2002. The reach and power of the
infomercial
probably added to the scrutiny of the ETC, as they knew that this
product was reaching alot of people - with these 'unsubstantiated'
claims. Here is the chart to verify the above :
ETC Ratings/Statistics Chart
http://www.retailing.org/facts/figures_JW-05-23-02.html
- "What are the contents of the letter that the Electronic Retailers
Association
wrote to the Federal Trade Commission?"
This story is still very new. Most of this information is from
September, and some even from October. My findings show that an
official copy of the letter has yet to be released. When and if it
does get released, I will post a link to where you can find this
information in the form of an answer clarification. Please check back
here often, as I have written to the ETC requesting a 'pre-release'
copy as well.
One can speculate - with a fair amount of accuracy, that the letter is
about the 'false' claims, and the ETC's concern for the people that
the product is marketing.
- "What specifically prompted the distributors of BLUE STUFF to pull
the
infomercials advertising BLUE STUFF?"
Under pressure from the the FTC, McClung is now retooling his
infomercials.
They charged him with a hefty $3 million fine for his past
"grandiloquence" according to this article. His company is toning done
the claims, and refining the overall next strategy, as they do have a
distribution deal in the works
with CVS to be concerned with. I thought the greatest part of the
following
article was this quote offering a reason for the past claims -
"We're just country folks," he (McClung) sighs. "We didn't know no
better."
Read this full article at Yahoo
http://biz.yahoo.com/fo/021017/blue_streak_3.html
- "Where is BLUE STUFF manufactured?"
BlueStuff Inc. (Incorporated) manufactures all of it's own products in
Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma. Their publicly available information as listed with
the Chamber of Commerce lists the plant (street) location and contact
information. Here is the link to the page :
http://www.chamberdata.cc/ccao/wc.dll?Mem~NewList~&Org=okedmd
I hope the information I found answers your question. If you need any
clarification, please ask before rating this answer and I would be
glad to help in anyway I possibly can.
To find the answer I searched for :
"blue stuff":
://www.google.com/search?q=%22blue+stuff%22
"blue stuff news":
://www.google.com/search?q=blue+stuff+news
Thanks for the question!
SgtCory |
,
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