After researching and writing on hoodia gordonii and hoodia supplements for years, I felt it was important to write an article about the hoodia 60 Minutes and BBC reports that are supposedly endorsing specific hoodia diet pills. The BBC and 60 Minutes never endorsed a specific hoodia diet pill. Any website that claims they did is lying.
Visit almost any website that is selling or promoting hoodia supplements and you’ll likely see the words prominently displayed, “As featured on” or “Endorsed by,” followed by the CBS 60 Minutes logo and the BBC logo. What you are led to believe is that the hoodia diet pill being promoted was featured or endorsed by these two media programs. Not only was a specific hoodia supplement not featured or endorsed by 60 minutes or the BBC, but no hoodia diet pill was tested or endorsed at all!
60 minutes did do a hoodia story on November 21, 2004. Reporter, Leslie Stahl, went to the Kalahari Desert in South Africa to see the hoodia gordonii plant growing in the wild. She wanted to eat a small piece of it herself to see if it affected her appetite. After eating the plant, Stahl reported the hoodia gordonii plant worked to suppress her appetite and she wasn’t hungry the entire day.
This was all that Stahl reported about hoodia. Stahl, nor 60 minutes, endorsed a specific brand of hoodia diet pill. In fact, 60 minutes didn’t even feature a specific hoodia supplement in their show. But, you wouldn’t know this unless you had seen the program yourself or read the show’s transcript. Hoodia sellers are simply taking this report and twisting it around to their advantage in an attempt to sell their specific hoodia supplements.
Another example of how shady marketers are trying to get you to believe a lie is they have used the same tactics with the hoodia BBC report. Tom Mangold, BBC correspondent, did a show on hoodia in 2003. He, too, went to the Kalahari Desert to see for himself if the hoodia gordonii plant would affect his appetite. Not only did Mangold eat a small piece of the plant, but his camera man also ate a small piece of the hoodia gordonii plant. Afterwards they said they, “did not even think about food” that day. They went on to say they weren’t hungry for breakfast the following morning and their appetites for lunch were almost nonexistent.
Again, you’ll notice the BBC story did not even test a specific hoodia supplement, let alone endorse one. Just as Leslie Stahl had done in her 60 Minutes story, Tom Mangold of the BBC actually ate the plant itself. Neither reporter tried a specific hoodia product. And they certainly didn’t endorse a specific brand.
Any website that is trying to sell their hoodia product by claiming it was seen on 60 Minutes or the BBC is lying. As you can see, the hoodia 60 minutes and BBC reports have been misrepresented. Any company that has to be dishonest to sell their products shouldn’t be trusted. It makes me wonder what else they are exaggerating or out right lying about to make a sell?
