Los Angeles Public Relations

Earlier this week, the CBS Evening News ran a story about billing tactics in the nutritional supplement industry.  In the industry, it is common for suppliers to offer introductory prices which allow customers to try a product before being placed into a monthly subscription where additional product is sent automatically.

The CBS story identifies one particularly unethical company under investigation by State and Federal officials.  Our Firm, LUCID PR, had been working with a company also in the nutritional supplement industry, and wanted to know what steps could be taken to counter it.

First, it’s important to look at the story – it’s not very well done.  Show me an industry, and I will show you someone behaving in an unethical or criminal manner.  While I would imagine CBS would counter by saying that they were exposing one bad company, the fact that they did not acknowledge that there are companies in this industry not defrauding people made for a story that will no doubt get good ratings, but will scare viewers far more than it will ever educate them.

So, talking next steps, having come from a background in professional politics, is to attack the story.   This must be done carefully.  The best way to do it is for an ethical company in the nutritional supplement industry to come out and tell their story – lots of “we’re appalled at what this one company did, and here’s why we aren’t like them.”  This is a golden opportunity for publicity – but again, it must be done carefully to minimize the potential for it to backfire.

Once the story is out there, our client will look like a leader in the industry.