Having simply settled a six-year lengthy lawsuit in opposition to Dave and Barb Pitcock, Youngevity seems to be concentrating on them once more.
This time by means of Innov8tive Diet and dad or mum firm LaCore Enterprises.
Oh and apparently Innov8tive Diet’s patches don’t comprise what’s marketed, classifying them as unapproved medication.
LaCore Enterprises is owned by Terry LaCore (proper) and runs a steady of MLM firms.
Innov8tive Diet is one such firm, with the Pitcocks serving as executives.
Named defendants in Youngevity’s lawsuit embody:
- Innov8tive Diet
- LaCore Enterprises LLC
- The Grace Agency
- LaCore Nutraceuticals Inc.
- The Grace Agency PC and
- LaCore Labs
Though they’re introduced up within the lawsuit lots, Dave and Barb Pitcock (proper) should not named defendants.
At concern in Youngevity’s Might nineteenth filed grievance are Innov8tive Diet’s “patch merchandise”.
Particularly, the comparative advertising and marketing Innov8tive Diet makes use of to market its patches.
Innov8tive and Innov8tive promoters … use comparative promoting by claiming both explicitly or implicitly that their merchandise use a mechanism for customers to soak up nutritional vitamins and vitamins that’s superior to Youngevity’s capsule, liquid, and powder based mostly dietary dietary supplements.
Youngevity alleges that Innov8tive Diet’s advertising and marketing claims, that it then attracts comparisons in opposition to Youngevity with, are flat-out falsehoods.
Innov8tive’s promoting claims concerning absorption of dietary substances by means of the pores and skin utilizing topical patches are a main part of its product promoting.
Innov8tive’s promoting claims recognized above are false.
Innov8tive and Innov8tive promoters have used a multi-year false promoting marketing campaign to promote product, falsely claiming that Innov8tive merchandise comprise sure nutritional vitamins and vitamins, and falsely representing that its patch merchandise comprise a novel or proprietary nanotechnology permitting customers to effectively ingest dietary substances transdermally.
Nonetheless, as defined under, the Innov8tive patch merchandise don’t comprise all (if any) of the claimed or labeled nutritional vitamins and vitamins, and people nutritional vitamins and vitamins should not absorbable by means of the pores and skin, as claimed.
Youngevity claims Innov8tive Diet’s conduct is injuring it and inflicting damages.
Youngevity and Innov8tive are … direct rivals as a result of the Pitcocks, as former high-level Youngevity distributors and present Innov8tive promoters, executives, and/or homeowners, market Innov8tive merchandise on to Youngevity distributors and prospects.
By way of these advertising and marketing and promotional efforts, Innov8tive makes an attempt to take prospects instantly from Youngevity.
Youngevity has misplaced distributors and prospects to Innov8tive.
Citing dietary labels from quite a few Innov8tive Diet’s merchandise, Youngevity bases its allegations impartial testing.
Youngevity retained an accredited laboratory to independently take a look at the Innov8tive Full Multi-Vitamin Patch to find out whether or not it accommodates the quantity of minerals claimed by Innov8tive on that product’s complement info panel.
The accredited laboratory’s take a look at outcomes show that claims on the Innov8tive Full Multi-Vitamin Patch’s Complement Details panel are actually false.
Youngevity don’t title the lab, however state they went on to rent S&N Labs to confirm the primary labs outcomes.
At face worth, the proof collected is fairly damning.
As cited by Youngevity, right here’s the vitamin label for Innov8tive Diet’s multivitamin patch:
Right here’s what S&N Labs discovered;
That’s a complete lot of zeroes.
And the zeroes proceed all through the remainder of Innov8tive Nutriton’s product line:
S&N Labs’ Report of Evaluation exhibits that Innov8tive’s patch merchandise didn’t comprise any of the examined nutritional vitamins, minerals, and dietary substances on the ranges recognized on the patch merchandise’ complement info panels.
I can’t personally communicate to accuracy of S&N Labs’ report however the Lab Director has signed off on the included exhibit.
If these figures are remotely correct, then it seems Innov8tive Diet’s patches are simply plastic squares.
I don’t even must depend on Youngevity’s allegations to level out what this implies for Innov8tive Diet. In BehindMLM’s printed Innov8tive Diet evaluation we particularly coated their advertising and marketing claims;
Innov8tive Diet declare their patches are comprised of “woven nanotechnology”. They state this enables them to place extra energetic ingredient of their patches, versus conventional “plastic patches”.
These zeroes actually don’t characterize “extra energetic substances”.
The Innov8tive patches weigh between 66 and 90 milligrams per patch.
Apart from the Innov8tive Really feel Gr8 Patch, the complement info panel for the Innov8tive patch merchandise declare that such merchandise comprise between 1580 and 8704 milligrams of energetic substances per patch.
Sometimes I discover myself solely utilizing the phrase “math is math” in reference to MLM Ponzi schemes.
8704 mg of substances on a 90 mg patch? Seems to be like I’ve a brand new utility (no pun supposed).
As to Innov8tive Diet’s claims concerning supply of (non-existent) vitamins by means of the pores and skin, Youngevity writes;
The micronutrients purportedly contained within the Defendants’ patch merchandise don’t surpass the bodily barrier of the pores and skin in quantities or portions equal to these marketed by Defendants.
Resulting from quite a lot of components, most compounds in Defendants’ merchandise lack the physico-chemical traits essential to permeate the pores and skin in enough portions.
The Defendants’ declare that customers are able to receiving the labeled quantities of dietary substances by utilizing the merchandise as directed, i.e., by making use of the patch to the higher physique. That declare is fake.
Having established that Innov8tive Diet’s patches don’t comprise any substances, and the supply technique is nonsense, Youngevity brings it again round to the advertising and marketing strategies (emphasis mine).
In an 18:36 minute video filmed by Barb Pitcock and posted to Dave Pitcock’s Fb web page on March 5, 2020, Dave Pitcock discusses the
difficulties of ingesting dietary dietary supplements in capsule kind.The video depicts different dietary dietary supplements, together with Youngevity merchandise and Youngevity packaging, in capsule and powder varieties.
Regardless of Defendants’ patch merchandise not containing the quantities of dietary substances claimed on the Complement Details panels, and the human physique’s lack of ability to soak up these dietary substances in quantities claimed on the Defendants’ labels, Innov8tive, by means of its promoters, has repeatedly claimed in promoting that Innov8tive merchandise are a extra environment friendly method to supply the physique with nutritional vitamins and vitamins than capsules, powders, and liquid dietary dietary supplements, corresponding to these offered by Youngevity.
Customers wouldn’t buy the Innov8tive merchandise in the event that they knew that, in fact, the patches can’t impart to the physique the amount of nutritional vitamins and vitamins claimed on the Defendants’ patch merchandise’ labels transdermally.
The majority of Youngevity’s grievance then lists instance after instance of Innov8tive Diet’s alleged misleading advertising and marketing conduct.
On the social media platform TikTok, an Innov8tive promoter posted a video exhibiting varied dietary dietary supplements in capsule kind, together with Youngevity’s Gluco-Gel product, and stating:
“This was once my month-to-month provide of multi nutritional vitamins and Omega 3s [showing dietary supplements in capsule form, including Youngevity product] till I discovered this superior product [showing Innov8tive Complete Multi Vitamin Patch] that’s actually patches that you simply put in your physique.
They’ve the whole lot that I used to take and extra in them and now I can eliminate all of this [showing dietary supplements in capsule form, including Youngevity product.].”
The Defendants’ comparative promoting is particularly supposed to injure Youngevity as a result of that promoting has been directed at Youngevity distributors and prospects and claims superiority over Youngevity merchandise.
The Pitcocks have been previously high-level Youngevity distributors for practically 4 years.
Youngevity distributors due to this fact have entry to and consider the Pitcocks’ social media platforms (i.e., by means of contacts on Fb.com that the Pitcocks shaped after they have been with Youngevity).
With information of that truth, the Pitcocks use promotional movies claiming that the Defendants’ merchandise are superior to conventional dietary dietary supplements, like Youngevity’s merchandise, and have used these false claims to induce Youngevity distributors and prospects to depart Youngevity for Innov8tive.
Youngevity has suffered harm because of Defendants’ false and deceptive claims as a result of Youngevity distributors, potential distributors,
prospects, and potential prospects have joined Innov8tive as a substitute of Youngevity, have left Youngevity for Innov8tive, and have bought Innov8tive merchandise as a substitute of Youngevity merchandise.
One significantly fascinating side of Youngevity’s lawsuit is the recharacterization of Innov8tive Diet’s patches as “unapproved and misbranded medication”.
Innov8tive and Innov8tive promoters unlawfully label and market their merchandise as dietary dietary supplements when, actually, they’re unapproved and misbranded medication.
That is based mostly on California’s and the FDA’s definition of a dietary complement.
California regulates meals, medication, and dietary dietary supplements by means of the Sherman Meals, Drug, and Beauty Regulation (“Sherman Regulation”).
Below California legislation, a “dietary complement” should be supposed for oral consumption and ingestion within the gastrointestinal tract in pill, capsule, powder, softgel, gelcap, or liquid kind.
The regulatory definition of “dietary complement” below the California Sherman Regulation mirrors the FDA’s definitional construction for dietary
dietary supplements. The Federal FDCA makes use of practically an identical language to outline “dietary complement”.Each the Sherman Regulation and the FDCA restrict “dietary dietary supplements” to these merchandise which can be “supposed for ingestion” within the gastrointestinal tract.
A product due to this fact can’t be offered as a “dietary complement” below California legislation until it’s supposed for oral ingestion and absorption by means of the gastrointestinal tract.
A product that’s supposed to impart vitamins into the physique by means of the pores and skin through a transdermal patch is regulated as a “drug” or “medical system,” and isn’t a “dietary complement.”
It’s illegal within the State of California to promote unapproved medication that haven’t been proven protected and efficient by means of premarket approval by the FDA or the Division of Public Well being.
Defendants’ patch merchandise are misbranded below the legislation as a result of such merchandise are improperly and unlawfully labeled and offered as Dietary
Dietary supplements when, actually, the merchandise don’t meet the statutory definition of a dietary complement.Misbranded dietary dietary supplements and/or unapproved medication are illegal and can’t be offered legally.
There’s a number of vitamin patch MLM firms round. If Youngevity’s declare holds up it could possibly be disastrous for that exact MLM area of interest.
On California, Youngevity brings it up as that’s the place they’ve filed their lawsuit. Youngevity’s company headquarters are in California. Innov8tive Diet and LaCore Enterprises are based mostly out of Texas.
Youngevity’s fifty-seven web page grievance particulars three counts at Innov8tive Diet and LaCore Enterprises;
- Laham Act false or deceptive promoting;
- unfair competitors – false promoting; and
- unfair competitors – illegal conduct.
Youngevity is looking for an injunction in opposition to Innov8tive Diet and LaCore Enterprises, as effectively an financial damages.
This contains any and all revenue derived from the sale of Innov8tive Diet’s patches, in addition to a 300% penalty on any damages awarded.
I’ve added “Youngevity Worldwide Inc. v. Innov8tive Diet, Inc. et al” to BehindMLM’s case calendar. Keep tuned for updates as we proceed to trace the case.