Somnapure: Wake Up to Sleep Aid’s Advertising

We recently stumbled upon two online ads for a sleep aid called Somnapure. One of the ads carried an image of something slimy that we couldn’t help but click on in the hopes that we’d find out what it was (fish bait, some horrible candy, what?):

The ad took us to a website with an apparent news article extolling the sleep-inducing and sleep-staying effects of Somnapure. The article had a Boston dateline, a quote from a company spokesperson, a citation on “recently published industry research,” and a note on how the sleep aid “is the brainchild of Harvard and MIT-trained researchers.” But news flash: This is an ad. So don’t think it carries the same legitimacy as a vetted piece of news.

But that’s not the only red flag on the field. The page also pushes a free sample bottle for which they say you only have to pay $2.99 shipping. However, the freebie comes with automatic enrollment into an auto-shipment program that will charge you $69.99 every 30 days if you don’t cancel membership in the program within 18 days of placing your order for the “free” bottle, according to the disclaimer at the bottom of the page.

And in the end, we never found out what those worm-looking things were in the original ad.

Some supplements use fake news articles to summon a sense of legitimacy about their product. If you are researching supplements online, take steps to confirm that what you’re reading is an actual news article and not an ad.

For more of our coverage on faux news, click here.