In 1997, the cold remedy Airborne was created. This product was developed by a second grade teacher in a kitchen by mixing a number of herbal ingredients including, “zinc, forsythia, Echinacea and vitamins C, E and A.” (139). In recent news, it was discovered that this product has been false advertising by a group of graduate students. According to the company’s manager, Airborne does not cure or prevent any common cold; it is as good as a normal vitamin C. However, I can testify that it has been working well for me and many other people. Besides the case, the company has decided to “pay $23.3 million to settle a class action lawsuit over false advertising.” (Barrett, 1).

For many years this trusted product was called a “miracle cold buster” (Barrett, 1) but recent studies shown that this dietary supplement is only good for boosting immunity. The new packages sold in stores won’t have the word “cold” from its original tagline “Take at the FIRST sign of a cold symptom or before entering crowded environments, like airplanes, offices and schools.” (Airborne Box, McDowell). People who have receipts “will be reimbursed for the amount they spent on Airborne from May 2001 through November 2007.” (Barrett, 1). Airborne has been successfully selling the product for 9 years, making more than $100 million. A few people are starting to change their minds about buying the product in return for getting a Vitamin C. Priya Jolly originally was going to get it because she was going to be flying out, but based upon the recent news, she will just go for the regular vitamins instead.

Since this study was only done by two graduate students, the media cannot just go out of its way of saying that it’s a product that has no significance. I admit that I’m a user of Airborne and it works well for me. Should everyone believe what is stated on the television, the news or should people base their own judgments on how it works for them? It is understandable that it contains 17 herbal extracts that cause a natural immunity to fight against diseases, and even on the box it merely says that it should only be taken at the first sign of a cold, not if you have the cold already.  Most consumers of Airborne are satisfied by its effects. Actor Kevin Costner swears that he believes Airborne works, “I have it on my private plane.” (139). Even the creator, Victoria Knight-McDowell claims that her formula is successful because she raises a son Errol.

There is a major lack of evidence that would agree with there new proposal. There is no explanation to how the graduate students conducted their experiment and to why they came up with that assumption. If the government is making a positive assumption about its false advertising, then they really need to give it numerous tests to absolutely secure that their statements are true. Over the millions of people who used this supplement, there never has been a complaint about the effectiveness of this product. The investigation of this drug was conducted by two people “in the absence of a clinic or scientists.” (Barrett, 1). In order to really persuade people that this product does not work; you need to accumulate more factual evidence that would support the company and the CEO of Airborne, Elise Donahue. She states, “We don’t know if Airborne is a … cure for the common cold. It helps your body build a healthy immune system and then it allows your body, on its own, to fight off germs.” (Barrett, 1). According to her statement it seems that Airborne is almost a vaccine towards the common cold. In retrospect of the recent surprising news broadcasting from “Good Morning America” I will not return it to the store. All the years I’ve had Airborne it worked well for me, so why change now? Many consumers deny its deceiving nature and probably will still go out and buy more but agree to “settle the litigation.” (Barrett, 1). 

Airborne is a successful product that was built with a lack of data. It is more likely that it’s healthier to eat “vegetables, fruits, nuts and fish” according to Dr. Schachter to increase one’s immunity. (Janet, 102). It is much easier to just take a simple supplement that grants a good result. I’m going to agree with the other millions of Americans who say that products that work for them are as good as products that truly work. Overall, Airborne is an example of how regular medicines work. Even antibiotics that are effective by doctors still can have bad side affects on patients or not work. To say that a supplement product “does not work” is wrong because if the product worked for all these Americans, for all these years, than it is effective and successful in preventing colds and boosting up people’s immune systems.