When a Company Steals its Own Reviews: The FTC Cracks Down on Review Hijacking

It’s a tale as old as time: You really want to go on a date with Bobby Jacobs, but his parents won’t let him go out unless his twin brother Scotty has a date too. You know Scotty sucks big time, but your friend Maureen has no clue!

“Bobby bowled a perfect game last week, Mo, and Scotty and everyone were there the whole time. They’re both 6 feet tall, blonde hair, oh you wouldn’t believe their eyes.” That’s how you spin it, Angie. Maureen doesn’t need to know that Scotty huffs glue and cut his tongue like a snake. Nope, you just sell him as a different version of his glorious and successful brother.

And THAT, dear friends, would suck. But THAT is exactly what The Bountiful Company has done on Amazon, by hijacking their own reviews.

Say What?

It’s the same metaphor, Georgieboy!

The Bountiful Company had some new supplements to sell, and instead of releasing them to the wilds of Amazon without any nice reviews to help them, instead the company "added the new supplements to existing listings, tricking consumers into thinking the new products “had more product ratings and reviews, higher average ratings, and “#1 Best Seller” and “Amazon’s Choice” badges.”

You’ve no doubt seen Amazon pages with variants of the same or similar products. Here’s a lovely floral dress and you can get it in pink, blue, or yellow. Here’s a big old bottle of mineral sunscreen, and you can get the 24 oz. or go for the double-pack.

If you’re observant, the reviews will tell you which variant of the product any consumer is reviewing.

Unless of course the product is new and unrelated and has no reviews of its own.

Wellll, the Federal Trade Commission is here to help us lowly consumers. It was determined to be no more than modern-age false advertising, and Bountiful was ordered to pay “$600,000 for manipulating product pages and deceiving consumers.”

If you want more of the nitty gritty, head here and read up.