Oprah Winfrey has warned fans not to purchase weight loss products using her name and image.
On Sunday, the 68-year-old media mogul took to Instagram to set the record straight about weight loss gummies claiming to be endorsed by her. In a short video, the former talk show host cautioned her followers not to fall for online scams using her likeness in its advertising.
“And so it happened to me again today,” she began the video. “A woman came up to me and said, ‘Can you help me get your weight loss gummies?’ And I said, ‘Ma’am, I don’t have anything to do with weight loss gummies.’”
Winfrey said that she was compelled to address the weight loss scam after she was approached about the gummies five times in one week. “Somebody’s out there misusing my name, even sending emails to people advertising weight loss gummies,” she added.
“I have nothing to do with weight loss gummies or diet pills and I don’t want you all taken advantage of by people misusing my name. So please know, I have no weight loss gummies,” Winfrey stressed.
The author also captioned her video with a warning to her followers explaining that she hasn’t endorsed any weight loss supplement being advertised online.
“Fraud alert!” she wrote. “Please don’t buy any weight loss gummies with my picture or name on them. There have been social media ads, emails, and fake websites going out and I want you to hear it straight from me, that I have nothing to do with them. Please don’t be taken advantage of and don’t give your personal information to them.”
This is not the first time Winfrey has needed to address weight loss gummies using her name and likeness to sell products. Earlier this year, Winfrey’s senior vice president of communications Nicole Nichols emphasised that Winfrey is not associated with weight loss gummies being sold online.
"These ads are a complete fabrication," Nichols told USA Today last May. “Oprah has nothing to do with this gummy product and does not endorse any such diet or weight-loss pill.”
Several advertisements for weight loss gummies have recently circulated on Facebook. The advertisements – which have been labeled as “False information” by Facebook – intersperse footage of Winfrey throughout the ad. Another advertisement reads, “Grab Your Fitness-Gummy From Oprah!".
The videos are linked to outside websites where people can purchase the weight loss gummies. One advertisement links to a headline appearing to be from Time magazine, which reads: “Oprah Launches Breakthrough ‘Weight Loss Miracle Gummy’ in Partnership with Weight Watchers After Being Forced to Lose 60 LBS in Just Weeks”.
While Oprah Winfrey has emphasised that she has not endorsed any type of weight loss gummy or diet pill, the philanthropist does have a partnership with and stake in WW International, formally known as Weight Watchers. Winfrey became a sponsor for WW after she personally used the company’s weight loss programme.
