Seventy three percent of TV and radio ads for food items or medicine make false claims, the Department of Health said yesterday.
After beginning to monitor food and drug ads two months ago, the department has found that false or exaggerated claims are the rule rather than the exception in such advertising.
The department said it would step up its regulatory control to prevent misrepresentation.
The two months of monitoring turned up at least 334 instances of false ads and 20 brands of medicines sold as health food.
According to the department's survey, most of the advertisements singled out bragged about their effects on weight loss, skin whitening, breast enlargement, and sexual potential. Firebird Coffee (
"The company officials may face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine up to NT$10 million," said Wang Hui-po (王惠珀), the director of the Department's Pharmaceutical Affairs. "We will ask for the product to be taken off the market within three months."
Other untrue ads include Leto (
Unauthorized medicine comes in various forms -- in tablets, dried fruit, desiccated lotus, green bean powder, and in soft energy drinks.
Health officials admitted that they cannot always keep pace with the versatile manufacturers who sell the same product under different labels and packaging once identified and fined.
"We suspect there is a larger, wily organization behind different front companies," said bureau official Dai Shue-yong (戴雪詠).
"It is not sufficient for the government to clamp down on food companies," Dai said, "they can run from county to county while still getting profits from customers islandwide." To rein in food companies broadcasting false ads, health officials called for public awareness. "People's buying potential is the most powerful weapon against them," Dai said.
Companies violating advertising regulations are subject to fines ranging from NT$30,000 (US$865) to NT$1 million. The department is also publicizing the names of these false advertisers on its Web site at www.health.gov.tw. People who wish to report suspect ads can call 0800-233-789.
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