FTC Charges Payday Lending Scheme with Piling Inflated Fees on ...

?Defendants Charged Many Consumers More than Three Times the Amount Borrowed

Washington, DC--(ENEWSPF)--April 2, 2012. ?The Federal Trade Commission has taken action against a payday lending operation that allegedly piled on undisclosed and inflated fees, and collected on loans illegally by threatening borrowers with arrest and lawsuits.? The FTC has asked a federal court to stop the allegedly illegal business tactics while the agency pursues its case against the defendants.

Like other payday lenders in recent years, this operation has claimed in state legal proceedings that it is affiliated with Native American tribes, and therefore immune from legal action.? However, the FTC alleges that the defendants? claims of tribal affiliation do not exempt them from complying with federal law.

This is the second time in seven months that the FTC has brought suit against a payday lender that has used a tribal affiliation defense against actions by state authorities.? The FTC recently expanded its first such case, against Payday Financial, LLC, adding charges that the operation illegally sued debt-burdened consumers in a South Dakota tribal court that did not have jurisdiction over their cases.

In this case, as part of its continuing crackdown on scams that target consumers in financial distress, the FTC filed a complaint in U.S. district court charging that a web of defendants, including AMG Services, Inc., three other Internet-based lending companies, seven related companies, and six individuals, violated federal law by deceiving consumers when providing and collecting on payday loans. ?One of the defendants who allegedly controlled the lending companies is automobile racer Scott Tucker.? According to documents filed with the court, Tucker and his co-defendant and brother, Blaine Tucker, allegedly transferred more than $40 million dollars collected from consumers by the payday lending companies to another company Scott Tucker controls, Level 5 Motor Sports, for ?sponsorship? fees that benefit Scott Tucker?s automobile racing.?

The Tuckers and the other defendants claimed they would charge borrowers the amount borrowed plus a one-time finance fee. ?Instead, the FTC alleges, the defendants made multiple withdrawals from borrowers? bank accounts and assessed a new finance fee each time, without disclosing the true costs of the loan. ?The defendants also falsely threatened that consumers could be arrested, prosecuted, or imprisoned for failing to pay and that the defendants would sue them if they did not pay, according to the FTC. ?

According to documents filed by the FTC, over the last five years, the defendants? deceptive and illegal tactics have generated more than 7,500 complaints to law enforcement authorities.? In many cases, the defendants? inflated fees left borrowers with supposed debts of more than triple the amount they had borrowed.? In one typical example, the defendants allegedly told consumer Eric Barboza that a $500 loan would cost him $650 to repay.? But the defendants attempted to charge him $1,925 to pay off the $500 loan, and threatened him with arrest when he balked at paying that amount.?

The FTC?s complaint alleges that defendants? misrepresentations and false threats violated the Federal Trade Commission Act.? According to the FTC, the defendants also violated the Truth in Lending Act by failing to accurately disclose the annual percentage rate and other loan terms; and violated the Electronic Fund Transfer Act by illegally requiring consumers to preauthorize electronic fund transfers from their accounts.

Consumers are urged to consider the alternatives to payday loans.? For more information, see, Fraudulent Online Payday Lenders:? Tapping Your Bank Account Again and Again.?

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint was 4-0.? The FTC brought suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on April 2, 2012.? The complaint names as defendants Scott A. Tucker; Blaine A. Tucker; Timothy J. Muir; Don E. Brady; Robert D. Campbell; Troy L. LittleAxe; AMG Services, Inc.; Red Cedar Services, Inc.; SFS, Inc.; Tribal Financial Services; AMG Capital Management, LLC; Level 5 Motorsports, LLC; LeadFlash Consulting, LLC; PartnerWeekly, LLC; Black Creek Capital Corporation; Broadmoor Capital Partners, LLC; and The Muir Law Firm, LLC.? The complaint also names as relief defendants Kim C. Tucker and Park 269 LLC.

NOTE:? The Commission files a complaint when it has ?reason to believe? that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest.? The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendant has actually violated the law.??

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC's online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC's website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Source: ftc.gov

mild kidney failure presidential candidates celebrity wife swap gla republican candidates virginia tech mike martz

A Healthy Mix | Dayspa Magazine

Meet three spa pros who teamed with local wellness providers to develop innovative offerings that super-serve their clients.

Sometimes, we just need a little help from our friends to start shaping up for swimsuit season or embracing a healthier lifestyle. And the same goes for day spa owners who hope to get guests started along similar paths! For many, this means partnering up with a fellow wellness-oriented business to devise more comprehensive health and fitness programs for spa-goers. The strategy also gives people greater reason to frequent your spa and opens a world of complementary cross-promotion opportunities! To find out what makes healthy partnerships tick, DAYSPA caught up with some spa owners who have forged successful alliances.

Skin & Beyond Day Spa in Franklin, Tennessee

The partner: AdvoCare nutritional products
The objective: Providing spa clients with an at-home weight-loss and nutrition program

The offer: With the 24 Day Challenge ($185), Skin & Beyond clients receive a nutritional consultation, a grocery-shopping list, and a regimen of vitamins, supplements, nutritious shakes and guidance?provided by the spa?s partner AdvoCare?to help jumpstart healthier lifestyles. ?It?s not a diet,? explains lead esthetician Nathaly J. Tanner. ?Guests on this program are eating real food six times a day. We teach them how to eat right, and give them recipes and shopping lists, helping to facilitate a lifestyle change that keeps the weight off for good.?

The inspiration: ?We?ve offered our Body Contour Wraps [90 min./$180] for a while, and noticed that while the treatment helped clients lose weight and inches, they didn?t know how to keep it up,? Tanner says. ?They would see results from the wraps, then go home and eat the same foods and come back six months later starting from zero. So we wanted to find a way to help them beyond the wrap?to teach them how to eat better and shop better. But we didn?t want to put them on a diet; we wanted to give them a lifestyle change, which is why we sought AdvoCare.?

The sell: When clients come in for the Body Contour Wrap?which is aimed toward weight-loss, inch-loss and detoxification?they also get a free nutritional consultation. ?Afterward, guests often sign up for The 24 Day Challenge. It?s all about fully informing them about what we can do to help, rather than selling them,? Tanner says.

How it?s promoted: When New Orleans Saints? quarterback Drew Brees is already your partner?s official national spokesperson, what other promotion do you need? The famous athlete himself inspires some to sign up, but the spa also hosts informational mixers every Thursday, with AdvoCare representatives present, to explain how the challenge works. ?We get a lot of instant sign-ups from that, and for those guests who can?t make it, I schedule webinars so they can learn at home,? says Tanner. ?But we have hundreds of non-paid endorsees who simply use these program?s products, have seen results and spread the word. That is the best promotion you can ask for.?

The verdict: ?Our clients are seeing awesome results. They?re reaching their goals and coming back for more to maintain their overall health and wellness,? Tanner says. ?We are super-serving our regular client base, but also bringing in a lot of new business.?

Jamie?s Therapeutic Touch Day Spa in Palestine, Texas

The partner: Snap Fitness Personal Training

The objective: To round out the spa?s weight-loss and contouring service options
The offer: ?We?ve developed a whole wellness program,? says owner Jamie Pettiette-Rhone. ?We offer everything we can to get the body revved up to burn calories and lose extra fat.? This includes infrared dry sauna sessions (which claim to torch 900 calories in 30 minutes), ionithermie, anti-cellulite services and more. ?Once we get guests into that routine, we refer them to Snap Fitness trainer Tamara Barnett. She helps shape and tone their bodies, works out with them, and advises on nutrition and caloric intake,? Pettiette-Rhone explains. ?Wellness program guests typically come see us, as well as her, once or twice a week.?

The inspiration: Pettiette-Rhone?s personal weight-loss odyssey was her impetus. ?I was 60 pounds overweight after having a baby and I lost the weight within two months, largely by sitting in the sauna every day,? she says. ?But I also needed motivation to work out, and that?s where Tamara came in. My clients wanted to learn more about how they could lose weight, so we teamed up with Snap to help design long-term health and workout plans for individual guests that would keep them motivated.?

The sell: Each plan is custom-catered, based on the client?s goals. Plans start at $60 per month for unlimited sauna sessions. ?Once they see how much they lose from that alone, guests want to do more,? Pettiette-Rhone says. And they needn?t look further than the Snap program literature that Jamie?s Therapeutic Touch always keeps on hand. ?For some clients, we?ve created yearlong plans that include cleanses, regular body wraps and sauna sessions, along with personal training.? ?Sauna club? and body-wrap clients who express an interest in taking their weight-loss goals further typically receive one free personal training session. After that, Barnett and Pettiette-Rhone work out a serial deal. (It?s common for guests to purchase 10 personal training sessions and five wraps or sauna sessions, and receive one free of each.)

How it?s promoted: The spa uses Facebook to highlight its weight-loss offerings, as well as print and radio ads. Pettiette-Rhone also writes a monthly column about fitness and nutrition for the local paper. Snap Fitness promotes its spa collaboration with fliers distributed across town. ?We?re all over the place, but of course, word-of-mouth is the ultimate when it comes to weight loss,? Pettiette-Rhone says.

The verdict: ?We?ve seen an increase in business of at least 30% to 40% since we teamed with Snap,? Pettiette-Rhone reports. ?I recently had a very overweight client lose eight pounds in one week, and that was huge for her. Many clients are losing two to 10 pounds a week with the added boost of training sessions.?

Contour Day Spa in Plantation, Florida

The partners: Upstairs neighbor Dr. G?s Weight Loss & Wellness , a medical weight-loss wellness center, and natural food company Bring Organics Back

The objective: To host organic cooking demonstrations in the spa, and provide spa and weight-loss center clients with an organic meal delivery service.

The offer: On Saturday afternoons, Bring Organics Back hosts cooking demos ($50) with tastings in Contour?s spacious conference room (the spa has 26,000 square feet), where spa- and weight-loss clinic-goers learn how to shop, cook and dine more healthfully. Classes include Starting from Scratch, a beginner?s course in basic organic cooking techniques; After-Dinner Desserts & Cocktails; Party-tizers; and Tropical Flair (Latin and Caribbean dishes). The company also offers an organic meal delivery service, for which guests can enroll at the spa.

The inspiration: ?They want to change people?s lives, we want to change people?s lives, and teaching clients proper nutrition is important to me,? says Contour Day Spa manager Fanit Panofsky. Adds Joe Adkins, co-owner of Dr. G?s Weight Loss & Wellness, ?[Bring Organics Back?s] Chef Chad Cherry needed a place for his cooking demos, I wanted cooking demos for customers and it fits into Fanit?s wellness concept, along with colonics, massages and living well. We?re all very complementary businesses.?

The sell: The trio initially teamed up last fall to offer two Groupon deals and sold hundreds instantly. For $25, guests could attend an organic cooking demo with wine and appetizers; for $40, they could bring a companion, too. The businesses have successfully used Living Social since then.

The promotion: One of their Groupon deals landed a mention on the nationally televised Ellen DeGeneres Show. ?It quickly became a very big thing,? Panofsky says. ?We also market to our email list of 22,000.?

The verdict: ?We help guests make the right choices and feel better about themselves, and we get to see people truly transformed,? says Panofsky. ?And we?ve all benefited from added publicity.?
Looking to broaden your spa?s wellness appeal? Like these pros, you may want to get to know your neighbors! Try finding like-minded business owners at Chamber of Commerce meetings, community networking events and through social media groups. From there, work together to devise marketing campaigns that will speak to both (or all) your clienteles.

Carrie Borzillo is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles.

---

Build your spa business with spa marketing and spa management tips ? Read about professional spa products ? Enter for a chance to win spa skincare, face & facial products, skin cleansers and more ? Subscribe to DAYSPA ? Subscribe to DAYSPA's eNewsletter?

---

cranberry sauce recipe mls cup amas 2011 black friday elliot elliot la galaxy

Using capture or perhaps squee?

Using capture or perhaps squeeze pages for viral list building and prospecting is familiar to most people who browse the web regularly, but the using a Facebook fan page (or organization page) to capture visitor to your site information is just beginning to ?catch on. ? The application of social websites in general has taken off in a staggering rate and contains ushered in social marketing by using it. A Myspace fan page, anytime used correctly, is an essential component and offers some tremendous positive aspects over traditional capture pages for list-building and lead generation programs. With Myspace exploding to now more than 750, 000, 000 men and women, the viral capacity to expand your targeted traffic many times over, larger conversion and the best accuracy possible the Facebook capture web page the superior solution to traditional capture internet pages.

The best capture page delivers some type of motivation in exchange for website visitors typing their name and also email into a type, fundamentally ?opting in? and supplying permission to receive emails or even to get contacted by mobile. Obviously, the motivation has to be value to be able to draw in the right men and women, but it will not need to be something of high value. In fact , oftentimes the incentive is simply delivering online information and/or guidance and is either brought to you via email, such as an ?e-book, ? for instance, or even in many cases providing a link to an online site with videos and links to other invaluable resources. This type of lead-capture program requires a graphic-rich deliver page internet site capture the information and pass the visitor on in to the destination webpage, where the sale made, or ?conversion? process continues. The converting visitors to a spending money on customer often takes time ? such as a courtship where you exactly develop trust after a while and engage within an ongoing dialogue, all while providing ongoing value.

The most obvious answer as to why you might build a record is to sell somebody something, nevertheless the smart marketers are generally not necessarily trying to find just the immediate, one-time deal. They are planning to develop a big following to which they will provide products over an ongoing time frame, so it is important they nurture and cultivate the list by repeatedly providing value ? some sort of ?win-win? situation for both parties.

Learn how to drive traffic to a capture page is a huge theme and there are countless techniques to do it including SEO (search motor optimization), email campaigns, and after this through the extremely new world regarding social media and social marketing. Companies are aggressively driving site visitors utilizing numerous different methods and we?ll check out how they may complete from their efforts and also out of their marketing and advertising dollars.

Facebook or myspace fan pages, often referred to as organization pages, are web pages where businesses are able to promote themselves about Facebook. On the other hand, Facebook?s personal user profiles are intended to be used for non-commercial, on line only. At which individuals on Facebook obtain ?friends?, fan web pages collect ?likes? as they establish a subsequent.

In other words ? because that is definitely where the folks are! With above 750, 000, 000 mil users and most of these logging in multiple times per day, Facebook currently has more traffic as compared to Google. Previously, 83% of businesses are using Youtube in some way because they know they should have got a presence on Myspace. As the declaring goes, ?put your bait where the fish are? ? plus they are on Facebook or myspace!

So if the people are recorded Facebook, next why not just listen your traffic-building efforts on getting the attention associated with Facebook users and then driving those to your existing catch page websites? Why have a capture web page inside Facebook? Nicely, being active on Facebook is, for most people, an enjoyable exercise where they are able to interact with friends, check out what?s happening inside their social circles, join in chats, browse through image galleries, seek out lost friends, and so on, and quite often not what they need to do is usually click on a thing that takes them outside of Facebook. Anytime something interesting floats by all of them (social marketing), they may be less likely to evaluate it out whether it points to a website that is external to Facebook. When they simply click something which begins redirecting them to another website, they will simply close that before it even coatings loading.

However, they are much more likely to check on it out if it keeps them within just Facebook.

The statistics for Facebook advertising and marketing bear this out there, as conversions are higher if the landing page for an ad is at Facebook. In addition, it fits the sales process well, permitting marketers to develop investing in interest in periods, eventually to take them to the point where these are willing to attend the transactional web site. Facebook offers discounted advertising rates of up to 30% for channeling ad site visitors directly to a page within Squidoo, rather than moving them to an outside web site.

Facebook . com is an open system and is built within the basis that everybody within your social group (your friends) sees everything that everybody else has been doing. The actual newsfeed (when you click Home) is simply an accumulation of this great article that is simply being posted on them (personal user profile pages) of all your pals. Understanding this particular simple concept highlights typically the powerful viral benefit for marketing on Myspace, or even cruising traffic from beyond Facebook to some viral capture system on a facebook page within Squidoo.

Just as with a conventional advertising a company capture webpage, a fan web page capture page ought to provide a method to present any graphic-rich and engaging deliver or incentive to obtain the visitor to opt in and automatically send some sort of confirmation email. In contrast to a traditional capture page, it should influence Facebook?s open network atmosphere and automatically send any customized wall post to this visitor too, thus revealing all of their close friends to your business or even service. This basically automates the word-of-mouth method, not requiring the visitor to take an active role. The credibility of that specific translates directly to your own product and product, providing a quick recommendation and increases the likelihood that his or her friends who have the in your goods and services should go to you first. In fact , by hitting the linked wall post, they will go to your fan page capture as well as the whole process starts over again.

Therefore if you are already driving a car traffic to a take page, having a Facebook facebook page capture can pretty much multiply your traffic many times over. Even though only one good friend clicks the wall post to check it, you?ve doubled your traffic. With many Facebook users these days having 600, 400 or simply 500 friends or even more, the extra exposure could be incredible!

Considering that Facebook is a membership network (i. at the. free), users must log in as well as identify themselves to Fb in order to get the network. This permits a Facebook fan page capture to reduces costs of the capture method. Instead of demanding the visitor to submit a form, providing at least their name and email address, they are able to simply, using two clicks, provide Facebook permission to offer their information directly from Facebook?s database to the capture tool. Considering they are in a roundabout way providing this info it lessens their own reticence together with eliminates the extra keystrokes, and so visitors are much more prone to follow-through. Statistics assistance this showing some sort of 3- to 4-time bigger conversation rate over conventional capture internet pages.

This process also ensures the particular accuracy of the facts captured, currently captured completely from Facebook?s database. This eliminates the more common occurrence of readers putting in false info (i. age. Mickey Mouse and also Santa Claus won?t be going to your site) to get past the take page. In fact , people typically use their primary e mail, which is not as likely to go away, when they sign-up for Facebook, and perhaps they are less likely to produce a fake name that would obviously hurt the social networking procedure of finding old pals, colleagues, and so on Using a Myspace fan page capture automatically upgrades the quality of the details captured.

So to wrap it up: A market with above 750, 000, 000 people, viral capacity to expand your traffic several times over, increased conversion and the greatest accuracy possible truly come up with a Facebook fan page capture the superior alternative to traditional record pages!

Tags: tremendous positive aspects, Facebook users, page internet site, ongoing time frame

kourtney kardashian pregnant chip kelly billy cundiff super bowl tickets superbowl birmingham news lee evans

Prostate Cancer; Healthiness; Chemotherapy | Increasing Cancer ...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

lipitor lipitor kourtney kardashian pregnant again kourtney kardashian pregnant again apple juice apple juice carole king

Google Maps goes retro for early April Fools' Day

Featured

3 days

Suzanne Choney

The smartphone juggernaut continues?in the U.S. According to a new Nielsen report,?49.7 percent of mobile subscribers owned smartphones as ... Read more

1 day

Suzanne Choney

Before April Fools' Day insanity overtakes the Internet, Google got a jump -- and a winner -- with its "new" 8-bit version of Google Maps for the Nintendo of old, with "beautiful low-res graphics, simple and intuitive controls, and a timeless soundtrack," the latter being the one that annoyed almost everyone, especially our parents.

With such hints in the video, below, as "blow on the cartridge to remove bugs," watch a demonstration of how 8-bit works on the 1980s NES, and pay careful attention to the mode -- and sound -- of connecting to the Internet:

We doublechecked with Google and, yup, this is from them, and is in the spirit of the holiday (no Nintendos were harmed during the making of this video).

The Web giant even pokes fun at itself on its Lat Long Blog: "In our pursuit of new digital frontiers, we realized that we may have left behind a large number of users who couldn't access Google Maps on their classic hardware. Surprisingly, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was unsupported, despite its tremendous popularity with over 60 million units sold worldwide," writes?Tatsuo Nomura, Google Maps software engineer.

"Our engineering team in Japan understood the importance of maps on retro game systems. With the power of Google?s immense data centers, and support from Nintendo and Square Enix, we were able to overcome the technical and design hurdles of developing 8-bit maps."

You can get the 8-bit effect on the real Google Maps, too, seriously: "We?ve made a limited trial available on desktop," Nomura wrote.

All you have to do is click on the "Quest" box in the top right corner of Google Maps to start.

Final words of advice from Nomura: "Please be mindful of dragons while playing. We wish you a safe and happy quest."

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

60 minutes oobleck justin timberlake marine corps ball frank gore injury frank gore injury makana makana

Man City misses chance to pressure Man United

By STUART CONDIE

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 2:20 p.m. ET March 31, 2012

LONDON (AP) -Manchester City missed the chance to put pressure on Premier League leader Manchester United on Saturday when it stumbled to a 3-3 draw against Sunderland that ended its record winning streak.

With United not in action until Monday, City knew that it could have drawn level on points with the defending champions with a Premier League-record 21st straight home win.

Instead, City needed two goals in the last six minutes to salvage a draw.

Sebastian Larsson scored either side of a goal from Nicklas Bendtner to give Sunderland a 3-1 lead before Mario Balotelli hit his second goal of the game for City and Aleksandar Kolarov equalized in the 86th minute.

Third-place Arsenal lost 2-1 at Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea scored twice in the last six minutes to win 4-2 at Aston Villa. Fernando Torres scored his first Premier League goal in six months as Chelsea kept up its challenge for a top-four finish.

City's second straight draw means United could go five points clear with seven games remaining if it beats Blackburn on Monday. City rallied for last weekend's 1-1 draw at Stoke and needed an even bigger comeback against Sunderland, which beat City 1-0 in January.

Larsson scored with a low shot into the corner from the edge of the area in the 31st and, although Balotelli leveled with a contentious penalty awarded for Craig Gardner's challenge on Edin Dzeko, City trailed at halftime for the first time this season after Bendtner headed in Stephane Sessegnon's cross.

Larsson made it 3-1 with a far-post finish from Bendtner's cross and City's frustrations showed as Balotelli and substitute Carlos Tevez apparently argued over who would take a free kick. Kolarov eventually took it.

But Balotelli reduced the deficit with a long-range shot and Kolarov smashed in an equalizer from substitute David Pizarro's set up.

City has 71 points to United's 73. Arsenal has 58 after former Tottenham midfielder Adel Taarabt, with his first Premier League goal, and Samba Diakite scored for QPR. Theo Walcott got Arsenal's reply.

With captain Stiliyan Petrov watching from the stands following his diagnosis with leukemia, Villa fought back from 2-0 down to 2-2 before Branislav Ivanovic and Torres clinched a win that moved Chelsea two points behind fourth-place Tottenham.

Daniel Sturridge and Ivanovic put Chelsea ahead before James Collins and Eric Lichaj brought Villa level.

Petrov was visibly emotional as he waved from the stands to the fans giving him a standing ovation.

It was Chelsea's sixth win in eight games under interim coach Roberto Di Matteo, although Spurs can restore its lead over its London rival to five points if it beats Swansea on Sunday.

Everton is seventh after a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion and Clint Dempsey scored his 13th Premier League goal of the season to help Fulham beat Norwich 2-1.

Also, Wigan boosted its chances of avoiding relegation with a 2-0 win over Stoke, and last-place Wolverhampton Wanderers looks sure to be demoted after a 3-2 home defeat against Bolton.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

More news

Big weekend ahead

??Arlo's Hat Trick: Russ Thaler and Arlo White preview MLS matchups between FC Dallas-DC United and the LA Galaxy-New England Revolution.

Man City misses chance to pressure Man United

??LONDON (AP) -Manchester City missed the chance to put pressure on Premier League leader Manchester United on Saturday when it stumbled to a 3-3 draw against Sunderland that ended its record winning streak.

pacquiao vs marquez junior dos santos junior dos santos evelyn lauder devin hester devin hester shayne lamas

'Pinkwashing': How corporations jump on the breast-cancer ...

Ford Mustang, a breast cancer fundraising partner

Every 23 seconds, a woman somewhere around the world is diagnosed with breast cancer. Every 69 seconds, someone dies from the disease.

In the US, one in every eight women will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives. And each year, 59,000 US women die as a result.

But a new documentary, Pink Ribbons Inc, reveals how these sobering statistics are a world away from the public image of the disease, which has become ?comforting, reassuring ? everything a breast cancer diagnosis is not?, says activist Barbara Brenner. Corporations and charities are accused of ?normalising?, or ?softening? the disease. ?But it?s not normal, it?s horrible.?

The documentary, screened as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, also shows how research into breast cancer is ?blighted by needless repetition and massive gaps?. The bulk of funding goes towards research into a cure, while only 15% goes towards investigating the cause of the disease, and how to prevent it. And this may be a direct result of ?misinformation and the perky image of the disease? promulgated by big corporations, including the likes of Susan G Komen, Avon, Est?e Lauder?and Revlon.

Adorned with pink hats and pompoms, ?survivors? of the disease rejoice with their ?sisters? in fundraising activities organised by companies around the world. But for some women, pink ribbons and parades don?t change anything. Filmmaker L?a Pool?travelled to Austin, Texas, to visit a support group for women with Stage IV breast cancer.

The bulk of funding goes towards research into a cure, while only 15% goes towards investigating the cause of the disease, and how to prevent it

At Stage IV, the cancer has spread so violently that there is simply no cure. ?There?s no Stage V?, one of the members explains. ?You?re learning to die.? Yet through the breast cancer ?culture? and focus on staying strong and fighting the disease, these women are made to feel like failures. The message, ?if you try really hard, you can beat it,? is encouraged, says the Stage IV support group. ?But people die ? they lost their battle. They just didn?t try hard enough.? Meanwhile, corporate fundraisers push this side of the disease under the rug, and there is no legislation to stop them.

Cash cow
Breast cancer is ?the poster child of cause marketing?, says Queen?s University professor Samantha King, on whose book the documentary is based. Around the US, millions of women walk, run, cycle, showjump, even skydive to raise money to ?fight? the disease. But where is their money really going? Big corporations say they are championing the campaign to find a cure. But the documentary poses a poignant question: are they actually making things worse?

Filmmaker L?a Pool?explores the issue in depth. She found that breast cancer has essentially become a cash cow for corporations using ?pink ribbon? branding to sell goods, and the US is the centre for ?pinkwashing? on a staggering scale. The ribbon appears on hundreds of products ? from food and cosmetics, to gasoline, cars, even airplanes.

?I was facing my own mortality,? writer and cancer sufferer Barbara Ehrenreich tells Pool, ?and someone?s offering me a pink teddy bear.?

Many of the goods are produced in partnership with cancer charities. But do the charities really have women?s best interests at heart? One group spotlighted in the film is ?Susan G Komen ? for the cure?, created by ?ambassador? Nancy Brinker in aid of her sister, Susan Komen, who died of the disease. Komen promises, through funding, ?to end breast cancer forever?, and the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is the world?s largest fundraising event for the cause.

?When I was diagnosed, all I wanted to do was get into a Ford Mustang Convertible and go!??
Ford advert

But Komen?s corporate partnerships have generated huge controversy, such as its ?Warriors in pink? collaboration with Ford motors. In one, unashamedly transparent advert, a woman sits in her new Ford Mustang. ?When I was diagnosed, all I wanted to do was get into a Ford Mustang Convertible and go!? she exclaims, with a smile.

In 2010, fast-food company Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) launched its ?Buckets for the Cure? campaign. For every pink bucket of fried chicken that KFC sold, they promised to give 50 cents to Komen. But given that obesity has been linked to breast cancer, the campaign didn?t go down too well.

Komen has also partnered with M&Ms (high in sugar and fat) and produced a pretty pink handgun with Smith and Wesson. Beginning in 2005, Yoplait yoghurt donated ten cents to Komen for each lid mailed in by consumers. But what many consumers did not know, revealed Pool, was that Yoplait?s owner General Mills was using a carcinogenic ? rBGH ? in its yoghurt. It was only when Breast Cancer Action, a group formed to act against cause marketing, created its own campaign against General Mills that the company removed the harmful element.

KFC launched its ?Buckets for the Cure? campaign ? but given that obesity has been linked to breast cancer, the campaign didn?t go down too well

Global cosmetics company Est?e Lauder?has also jumped on the bandwagon, despite the documentary?s claim that its make-up contains harmful, possibly carcinogenic, chemicals. Yet, with British model Liz Hurley as spokesperson, the company conducted a huge fundraising campaign to light up famous landmarks in pink, including the Empire State building and Niagara Falls.

In a vast ceremony, ?Est?e?Lauder and its supporters descended outside Parliament in Ottawa, Canada. As pink lights shone on the facade, a cherub-like choir of children, sang ?You raise me up?, the deep bells of the clock tower echoing the tune. But this isn?t Disney ? it?s breast cancer. ?What does lighting up Niagara falls for 24 hours in pink really do?? a cancer sufferer asks Pool.

Hypocrisy
Pool?s documentary is an excellent and highly informative film which asks important questions and induces the viewer to reconsider blindly handing over money to companies that may be less than transparent. The hypocrisy of companies such as Est?e Lauder, Avon and Revlon, is clear ? using ?pinkwashing? to improve their public image while manufacturing products that may be carcinogenic.

But the one failing of the documentary is that the corporations are never really held to account. As such, it is more of an observational, rather than investigative documentary, with heavy reliance on professor King?s book. In a discussion following the film, at London?s Curzon Soho, King explained, ?we have to change the conversation around the disease, and what our priorities are.? But when it comes to changing the actions of big business, ?they don?t want to listen,? she says. ?It?s really hard to hold them to accountability?.

Related links:

free shipping free shipping esophageal cancer marfan syndrome marfan syndrome britney spears engaged craig smith