Sunday This and That or How Not to Sell Skin Care

Well, I never! I was sorting through old, unread mail today when an envelope caught my eye. Addressed to me, not my blog, I opened it out of curiosity. You won't believe how many envelopes I toss without ever opening them. This one drew a little interest.

The short note from Dr. Alexsander Olsen said, "Dear XX (with XX being my first name), if you care about your appearance, please read this book." It appeared to be hand-signed. Immediately, I wondered who sold my name and address. Was this a blog plug, or did someone sell a mailing list of female baby boomers?

This little booklet introduced me to Immuderm. Billed as the remarkable story of how a Norwegian cleaning lady discovered an anti-aging breakthrough in a fish tank, it told me why Immuderm works better than anything else on the market to improve your appearance. OK, I scanned it.

Here is the deal. Hilda had the job of cleaning fish tanks in a biotechnology lab. The water was treated with a substance called B-1/3-1/6 glucan, according to the booklet. So after Hilda noticed that her hands and arms began to look younger, she started splashing the fish tank water on her face too. (Does this remind you of SK-II story?)

Long story short, Hilda told her boss, and he had his own eureka moment. Twenty-three months and millions of dollars later, Immuderm was developed. Clinical tests showed profound results for everyone in the study, of course. Now, the booklet claims, Immuderm is a household name. Hilda apparently retired because her royalty takes good care of her.

You can order this stuff directly from Immunocorp. You can find it at Amazon too. I won't be ordering for several reasons. First, I found the note I received to be fairly insulting. Do I care about my looks? Of course. Few don't. Am I some naive woman who believes everything she reads? Nope. Second, did I do a little research on Immuderm? Of course. I found several warnings on the Internet. I've trained my eye to know when the warnings are simply dishonest product pitches or when they are based on a few facts. These seemed legit. Check out this blog, subtitled "60 going on 16" - pretty clever. It's an old post, but basically tells the same story.

Third, if Immuderm has been around over six years, and few have heard of it, it's probably not the answer to our prayers. Fourth, if you check out Immunocorp.com, you'll find claims that would draw the attention of the Food and Drug Administration. I'm not sure how you could support an individual's immune system without absorption by the blood stream.

Have you ever received this little marketing booklet, or did I get lucky? Buyer beware!

Photo at top courtesy of howstuffworks.com, which has no relationship to Immuderm