Top 10 As Seen on TV Products That Led To MASSIVE Lawsuits

#10: ZippySack vs. Zipit

Who knew that asking kids to make their beds would lead to so much conflict. These products are basically sleeping bags that fit over the entire mattress. ZippySack’s version has cute characters on it to appeal to kids – and shortly after it hit the market, Zipit came out with basically an identical product. ZippySack sued for patent infringement, and the companies agreed to a settlement. Zipit would be allowed to sell its remaining 80,000 units, and then would take its product off the market. Everything went as planned … until Zipit found another 40,000 unsold sets. They tried to sell them in violation of the settlement. ZippySack sued again and won again, leaving Zipit with a whole bunch of unsellable sheet sets.

#9: Coral Calcium Is No Miracle Cure

If you watched late-night TV in the mid-2000s and ever saw an infomercial for a health product that sounded too good to be true, you were probably watching Donald Barrett. He founded ITV Direct, which produced commercials for supplements, powders, weight loss systems, and alternative medicine gurus. Unsurprisingly, these commercials made a lot of dubious health claims, and Barrett got into trouble with the FTC numerous times. In 2008, ITV was ordered to pay more than $50 million for claiming that two of its products, Coral Calcium and Supreme Greens, could cure cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s autoimmune diseases, and more. That case was the end of ITV.

#8: Exploding NutriBullet

It’s kind of surprising that this product is still on the market, considering that there’s been at least 140 lawsuits filed against the company since 2014. This super high-powered blender is a favorite for making healthy smoothies, but unfortunately, it has a tendency to explode. Numerous people have suffered severe injuries while using it, including cuts and burns. In 2022, a New York man was making a protein shake with his NutriBullet when it exploded and severed an artery in his hand. The same year, the company paid $10 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by people who had been injured by the NutriBullet.

#7: Ripple Rug vs. a Non-Existent Product

Fred and Natasha Ruckel’s cat play mat is a simple design – which is probably why they’ve been plagued by copycats. When Fred Ruckel saw a commercial for a knockoff called Purr N Play, he realized it wasn’t just similar – it actually was a Ripple Rug. The label was visible in some of the shots. The Ruckels sued, and discovered that Purr N Play’s parent company never actually manufactured the toy. They used a Ripple Rug to film the commercial and planned to produce Purr N Plays overseas on the cheap. However, this massive company nearly bankrupted the Ruckels in court, and they were forced to drop their lawsuit. But the Purr N Play was taken off the market.

#6: Flex Seal

You’ve definitely heard of this brand, if only from the memes. It’s also been featured in several lawsuits, some of them tragic. One man was using Flex Seal to repair his house when the can spontaneously combusted, burning his hands, arms, and neck. In 2023, a woman sued her apartment complex after renovators left a can of Flex Seal in her oven without her knowledge. When she used the oven, the can exploded, severely burning her and her daughter. And in 2021, a boy died on an amusement park river ride when his raft started to fill with water, overturned, and he was trapped underneath. The park had apparently been using Flex Seal instead of industry-approved materials to patch the rafts when they were damaged.

#5: Girls Gone Wild Without Consent

This company made a killing by filming intoxicated young women getting a little indecent at parties and bars and selling the DVDs. Thanks to its huge success and its famous late-night commercials, everyone had heard of “Girls Gone Wild.” It even inspired an episode of “Law & Order.” The problem was that it didn’t always get the girls’ consent before selling videos of them, and some of them turned out to be minors. The company settled several lawsuits and had to pay out almost $6 million after losing another. Founder Joe Francis was sentenced to a year in jail for filming underage girls.

#4: Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About

Kevin Trudeau can’t seem to stop scamming people – or getting in trouble with the law. His infomercials promoted all kinds of questionable miracle cures, financial advice, and weight loss schemes. He made money, but eventually the FTC caught up to him. In 2004, he was fined a half-million dollars. In 2007, a judge found Trudeau in contempt of court for making false claims in his book "The Weight-Loss Cure ‘They’ Don't Want You to Know About.” He was fined $37 million – which he never paid. Instead, he continued living in luxury and defying court orders … until he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Now he’s out and he’s turned to a more modern medium for marketing his scams: YouTube.

#3: $31 Million Bunch of Balloons

Telebrands, now known as BulbHead, is the original infomercial producer. They also stole a lot of people’s ideas. Josh Malone invented a gadget for filling and sealing dozens of water balloons at once. He launched his Bunch O Balloons on Kickstarter and made a deal with a manufacturer. But Telebrands managed to get their own Balloon Bonanza out before Malone’s even hit the market. They stole the idea from the Kickstarter and started making the toy while Malone’s patent was still pending. Malone and his manufacturer sued, and the jury awarded them $12.5 million. The judge decided to make an example out of Telebrands and doubled the award. With attorney costs and interest, the penalty came out to $31 million.

#2: Pocket Hose

It’s ironic that a company known for stealing other people’s patents would be so protective of its own. Telebrands has sued multiple people for patent infringement of the Pocket Hose, including a small company called Vieneci Garden [xref]. It also sued another company, Winston Products, for patent infringement, but that hose has since been recalled for exploding during use [xref]. Believe it or not, Telebrands even tried to sue the inventor of the Pocket Hose. He wasn’t listed on the patent when Telebrands filed it, and they attempted to stop him from selling his own hoses, but the inventor won that case. Craziest of all, a class action suit was filed against Telebrands because the Pocket Hose didn’t actually work that well. [xref]

#1: Get-Rich-Quick Scams

If someone promises you a secret trick to make easy money, they’re scamming you. In 2012, following an FTC lawsuit, a court issued a summary judgment against the marketers of three different as-seen-on-TV get-rich-quick schemes. “John Beck's Free & Clear Real Estate System,” "Jeff Paul's Shortcuts to Internet Millions,” and "John Alexander's Real Estate Riches in 14 Days” all promised easy cash. But the court found that most of the people who bought them actually lost money. It fined the marketers a record $478 million for the deception. One of the defendants, John Beck, was ordered to pay $113 million. He appealed the judgment, and while the appeal was still ongoing – in fact, the day of a hearing – the 73-year-old man disappeared without a trace.

Would you buy any of these products? Which of these stories do you think is the craziest? Let us know in the comments.