In what is becoming a race for the bottom of health news stories, a recent Bloomberg story on Boston.com is headlined:
Lose weight forever?
Obesity cure?
Excerpt from the advertisement- , er, story:
“Long-term results from studies on Abiliti are not yet available. So far, a 12-month study concluded in March of 25 participants showed an average total loss of 14 kilograms and a 30 percent drop in excess weight, or the amount above ideal body weight.”
25 people?
Only at the very end of the story do we hear:
“There’ve been a lot of electric stimulation devices that have failed to show any advantage over placebo” or other weight-loss surgeries, Cleveland Clinic’s Schauer said.
Wow.
Maybe we need to start reviewing Bloomberg pieces on a regular basis. Look at how many other websites picked up this headline and ran with it.
Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
Monday at #ADA2021, an infectious disease epidemiologist, a journalist, and a researcher shared perspectives on communication of risk in the era of COVID-19: http://ow.ly/ROfR30rMeE7 @AstleyCM @garyschwitzer @berthahidalgo @ADA_DiabetesPro
Shoutouts to @susan_bewley @drkevinknopf @MichaelBaum11 in this call for more than fawning coverage from press releases for these kinds of stories.
Also, linked history inside goes back 5 years just on Grail apparently trying to become Holy Grail. https://twitter.com/garyschwitzer/status/1408849696416841731
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