Kevin
Trudeau, a bestselling author, infomercial king, and international speaker has
been sentenced to doing a dime behind bars for bilking consumers.
A
decade ago, Trudeau settled a case with the FTC, agreeing to no longer appear
in or produce ads selling goods or services. He was jailed this past November
for criminal contempt, defying the government court order that bars him from
running false ads about his book, Natural
Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About.
Trudeau
aired the infomercials at least 32,000 times, prosecutors say.
Some of the
alternative health claims made in his book have been proven false. In particular, the FTC said his book insisted oral calcium could cure cancer,
heart disease, and other maladies.
The
sad case of Trudeau raises issues about free speech, responsible speech, and
speech that is criminal.
The
bigger problem with books involving health is the authors, for even when well-intentioned,
are limited by what they can claim simply because medicine and healthcare best
practices are far from settled. Today’s a cure-all pill becomes the cause of
another disease. And methods that were laughed at, such as chiropractics and
acupuncture, are now embraced by Americans. So much is simply not known about
the body, drugs, natural cures, mind-body connections, and the impact of our
changing environment.
On
the other hand, some science seems more established than other forms, in part,
because of tests and long-term studies that show us consistency and results.
But even in the face of concrete science, who is to say an alternate medicine
can’t work in certain cases?
Authors
should be free to propose new ideas, theories and approaches, but they must
present them responsibly. Buyers must beware that what is published is not
always the definitive truth.
But
once an author has crossed the criminal line, has been called on it, and is
told to clean up his act- and doesn’t -- it’s hard to generate sympathy for him.
Still,
as deficient as Trudeau may be in his actions, I don’t want to see publishers
curtail the publishing of new, even controversial or unprovable ideas, claims
and theories. Without others pushing the envelope and challenging the status
quo, how will we improve our world and put dual scrutiny not just on authors
like Trudeau, but on all “experts.”
For
authors one lesson is clear. You have the opportunity, oven the obligation, to
write books that are controversial and filled with ideas that challenge the
norms. But you also have a responsibility-- moral and legal -- to offer things
you known to be true or at least don’t know to be false. Otherwise, your fate
may be shared with that of Trudeau.
SPEAKERS TOOLKIT FOR AUTHORS
Brian Feinblum’s
views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of
his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow
him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important
when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted
by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014
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