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A commonly heard claim is that advertisers can hire actors who have never used a product to say things like, "I used X and lost 50 pounds in one week".

Is this truly legal? What limits do the relevant laws place on this practice?

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If this is really a commonly heard claim please link to some examples of such claims to establish notability. – Konrad Rudolph♦ May 27 '12 at 9:51
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Oh come on. The answers need evidence. The questions, not so much. – Charlie Flowers May 27 '12 at 18:33
@CharlieFlowers As Konrad said, please provide examples of the claim. Also, see our welcome post and in particular our notability post for more information! – Sklivvz♦ May 27 '12 at 19:03
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@CharlieFlowers Who cares if the claim is common or not? Well this whole site is dedicated to investigating widely held beliefs, that's the defined entire purpose here. Please understand, the answers here require a significant amount of time to research and write up, and we want to focus on claims that people actually believe. Without notability requirements our scope is too broad and we become a place for just idle speculation. – Sam I Am May 28 '12 at 6:41
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OK, I see it. Thank you for the explanation. I'm over-sensitive because of what I see as insane moderation/policing actions on another stack exchange site. I had hoped this site would be free of all that, and on first blush it wasn't. But what you say makes sense, even if it is not how I would do it. So, as much as it pains me to publicly eat crow, I apologize for my over-reaction. – Charlie Flowers May 28 '12 at 16:34
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closed as not a real question by Sklivvz♦ May 27 '12 at 19:09

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

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