Lyndsay Moss: Testing questions to be asked about free product samples

Published on Monday 20 July 2009 19:00

I CANNOT lie to you – I love a freebie. I'm not talking about the kind of freebies your local MP might enjoy at the taxpayers' expense, or the free clothes and holidays lavished on celebrities.

I'm talking about the kind of freebie that comes in a miniature plastic cup, on the end of a cocktail stick or handed to you in a tiny paper napkin.

Ever since my mum took me to the Ideal Home Exhibition at about the age of ten, I have been drawn to these kind of consumer events like fly to a sticky bun – and sometimes they're on offer too (the sticky buns, not the flies).

So when I was invited to the Your Healthy Living Show in Edinburgh last weekend you can guess what the answer was.

For anyone who has not been to these kind of events, here's the general idea: various companies run stands promoting their products, most of them offer free samples and there is plenty of advice about the benefits they offer. These events are not really about the hard sell. If you take a swig of the vitamin-enriched mango juice and then walk away, nobody is going to chase you demanding you purchase the full bottle. Most hope their products will speak for themselves.

The event at the Assembly Rooms was crammed with stalls offering everything from gluten-free batter mix to crisps made from apples and face cream that smells like chocolate. There were vitamins galore, along with organic fizzy drinks and scented candles.

What is clear is that recession or not, people are always interested in finding new ways to feel better about themselves – perhaps more now than ever. This is a burgeoning market. The products fight for your attention, boasting their unique selling points.

With so many products on the market, it helps to have a celebrity backer on your side. Our press packs included a bottle of Dr Red Blueberry Punch. The accompanying press release proclaimed "As 'nearly' featured on ITV's This Morning, twice!" Such is the nature of this crowded market that almost making it onto a TV programme is seen as worth flagging up.

But actually the product – rich in antioxidants with research suggesting it could help relieve the symptoms of enlarged prostate – did eventually make it on to This Morning, as demonstrated with an accompanying DVD. And it received the backing of the show's Dr Chris Steele. At almost 35 a bottle – which makes around 30 glasses of the punch – it might take a bit more than that to persuade your average consumer to cough up.

One thing I was relieved about was that there was not much to be seen of homeopathic remedies, the explanation of which always strikes me as something more akin to a potions class in Harry Potter than a serious concept to help improve your health.

But there were other products which serious scientists would shake their heads over. One nervous young man explained to us the concept of patches you stick on your feet overnight. "They help detox your system while you sleep," he said, his eyes urging us not to ask any more probing questions. Experts say that the idea of detoxing your body is a nonsense – your liver does that for you well enough on its own.

The public will always look for products to help improve their health and each of us must make judgment calls about their relative worth.

But in the clamour to find their place in the market, we must all be wary of products which could be said to be exploiting our fears. A number of internet sites have recently sprung up declaring that their products could be beneficial in the face of the swine flu pandemic. The evidence base for most of these appears to be pretty flimsy.

By all means keep reaching for those free samples. But make sure you ask a few questions before you reach for your money.