Do you remember all of the commercials for Lumosity? Lumosity training was going to make us smarter so that we did better at school and at work. In fact the rigorous training for our brains was said to be so powerful that it could: “Reduce or delay cognitive impairment associated with age and other serious health conditions.”
According to NBC News (December 31, 2015), the FTC started to listen when Lumosity was talking and after extensive investigation, they concluded:
“’Lumosity preyed on consumers’ fears about age-related cognitive decline, suggesting their games could stave off memory loss, dementia, and even Alzheimer’s disease,’ Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a news release announcing the settlement. ‘But Lumosity simply did not have the science to back up its ads.’”
For a while, Lumosity was everywhere. The article noted:
“Lumosity marketed its service through TV commercials, mails, blog posts, social media and used Google AdWords to drive traffic to its Lumosity.com website, purchasing hundreds of keywords related to memory, cognition, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease, according to the complaint…It also failed to disclose [my quotes] that some testimonials on the website were solicited through contests that promised substantial prizes, including a round trip to San Francisco, where the company is based.”
There are a number of ethical problems with this case. In terms of advertising the company made the dangerously unethical, and somewhat arrogant leap, to subtly trying to convince people that the programs on its site would stave off Alzheimer’s.
As if the “promise” to cure dementia wasn’t unethical enough, we were to learn that some of the testimonials were fake as a phony IQ test. Lumosity paid people to make claims that just weren’t sincere.
A rich source of income
We (us humans that is) have long sought the mythical Fountain of Youth. As medical science has pushed boundaries of our longevity, new problems often set in and sadly so. Dementia and Alzheimer’s are terribly frightening, and at this particular moment in medical history, we don’t have the ability to fight such maladies. I wish it weren’t so, but right now those of us unlucky enough to fall into dementia, have a long and dismal road ahead.
Lumosity understood our fears. For monthly payments of $14.95 to play their games or lifetime memberships of $300, we could try to “dementia-proof” ourselves. From the article:
“According to the FTC’s complaint, Lumosity offered 40 games that it said target and train specific areas of the brain. The company advertised that training for 10 to 15 minutes three or four times a week could help users achieve their “’full potential in every aspect of life.’”
For its part – and without admitting any guilt – the company has agreed to refund the money it was collecting, although typical of those who are caught with fingers in cookie jars, they are insisting they have contributed to scientific knowledge and human well-being. Well, so did my Uncle Paul who shot a 74 on the golf course in his late 80s, but it is pretty arguable that he did anything to advance human well-being.
The fact of the matter is that Lumosity saw a rich source of income flowing from the fears we all have of diseases such as Alzheimer’s. They “bought” all of those keywords relating to memory because they understood those fears. The giveaway in this ethical scandal is that they paid people to give endorsements. If their programs actually worked with dementia patients, people would have fallen all over themselves to give testimonials. It didn’t happen.
For a lot less money, it would have been just as easy for most of us to do a cross-word puzzle every so often, or read a good book than plunking down $15 a month.
Arrogance of youth
I could not help myself! I went to the Lumosity website and looked up their executive team. By and large they are Millennial’s with a few Gen-Xer’s here and there. While I have no doubt that a few of them meant well, their backgrounds were mainly in technology, not in science or medicine. The executives are heavy-hitters in the high-tech and funding sense, and I have no doubt that they are exceptionally bright, but they are also playing on fears, innuendo, basic greed and arrogance.
It is hard to know if any of these executives currently have a relative or friend locked in dementia, but I am inclined to doubt it.
There is an inconvenient truth that Lumosity fails to understand. Brilliant scientists, mathematicians, teachers, writers, historians, actors, religious thinkers, mechanics and on and on, have succumbed to dementia. On a daily basis, these brilliant folks dealt with critical thinking far beyond anything Lumosity offers.
No matter the industry and the wrapping paper placed around schemes, unethical behavior as the result of capitalizing on an opportunity to deceive, is always with us. Ethical buyer please beware.
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