Daniel Dvorkin's Journal: Confronting pseudoscience in advertising

The Scientist reports that UK group Sense About Science is confronting advertisers about pseudoscientific claims in health products such as "Aerobic Oxygen," "Salt Lamps," and "Activ8." They called the advertisers' customer service numbers and grilled the unfortunates on the other end of the phone about their misuse of scientific language to sell products. The project, There Goes The Science Bit, may seem a bit cruel cruel (see the PDF report for transcripts of the conversations) but it's about the only way to expose these charlatans. Now, if only someone would start doing the same with politicians ...