wafflesatnoon.com » Reviews » Instaflex: An Advertising Review
Instaflex: An Advertising Review
While perusing the web today, I ran across a blurb for everydaylifestyles.com, which is essentially a one-page advertisement for Instaflex, a popular (and heavily-advertised) joint supplement. While the product itself does appear to have some legitimate and favorable reviews, their methods of advertising are less than impressive.
Note: This review is of the advertising and free trial of Instaflex, and not of the efficacy of the product. If you have your own review of, or experiences with, Instaflex, we encourage comments below. If you comment that I’m attempting to review the product without trying it, then you are missing the point of this entire article, which is only a review of the advertising and free trial.
Advertising
Any ad that combines promise of a “shocking discovery” with a supplement should be carefully scrutinized. In the case of Instaflex, there appears to be a multi-pronged approach, at least from what was observed today: advertising Instaflex directly, and advertising everydaylifestyles.com as an indirect promotion for Instaflex.
Compare everydaylifestyles.com and a page that Instaflex directly advertised today, as seen in the screen shots below:
Everydaylifestyles.com and a page advertised on Instaflex
Promises of "tricks" are rarely explained after you click the ad.
Two Red Flags
The first red flag that appear to me in their advertising is that they use the “simple trick” verbiage that has been used by the most notorious spammers over the past few years, such as acai and wrinkle creams. It’s my guess that the powers at be at Instaflex are perhaps using the same ad agency that is responsible for those other “trick” type ads. That is purely speculation. The website never really discusses a “trick” unless this “trick” is merely to buy their product. That itself, seems rather “tricky” to me.
The second red flag is that both Instaflex’s website and everydaylifestyles.com are heavily promoting a 14-day trial. Why this is a red flag is because such “trials” in 2012 are typically very short and almost always sign you up for a “subscription” to the product, which is in fact the case here.
The Free Trial
The free trial is for a 14-day supply, and you must pay $4.99 shipping. Signing up for their free trial will also enroll you in their auto-ship program if you don’t cancel during the trial period:
If you do not call customer service to cancel within [18] days of ordering your free trial, you will be charged $74.98 plus any applicable tax to the card you used to place your trial order. You will also be enrolled in our auto-ship program.
Further, to be eligible for a refund, you must return the unopened packaging and must have ordered it via standard shipping:
To be considered for reimbursement, products purchased through standard delivery (“all non-auto-ship purchased products”) must be unopened and in the original packaging.
The question that should be most obvious is why do you need to pay $75 per month to have something shipped to you automatically when you can run down to the nearest GNC and buy it for $70 without a subscription? As of this writing, you can buy Instaflex from GNC for $69.99, even less with a Gold Card. I have verified this price on their website and by calling two different stores here in Southern Nevada.
Another obvious issue with this free trial is that it’s doubtful that two weeks is enough time to gauge the effectiveness of Instaflex. Their FAQ states that it takes a minimum of three months to realize the full effects, if any.
Instaflex Ingredients
The advertisements promise a “shocking” discovery by Cambridge researchers. The Instaflex website prominently displays the following ingredients: Glucosamine Sulfate, MSM, Hyaluronan, and Turmeric Root Extract. It never quite says which of these were the “shocking” discovery. The website does not cite any clinical trials supporting claims that their product is effective.
Bottom Line
Instaflex appears to have standard ingredients for joint health, which probably make it on par with other joint supplements out there. We take issue with some of their advertising methods (such as the unexplained “1 trick”) and free trial, which signs you up for a more expensive auto-ship enrollment if you don’t cancel in time.
Skip the free trial.
If I wanted to try it, I’d just run to the nearest nutrition store and buy it there. And in fact, while at the store I’d shop around for much cheaper alternatives, which do exist.
Reviews of Instaflex
If you ever want to read true, non-biased reviews of a product, it’s probably best not to look at the product’s own website, unless you prefer to read cherry-picked or even fake reviews. I’ve found a decent collection of unbiased reviews of Instaflex at supplementcritique.com. I encourage you to read the reviews there, and if you have any experiences you’d like to share here -about the advertising, free trial, or product itself – please feel free to comment below.
Read about other “Free Trial” offers we have discussed recently:
Filed under: Reviews
I unfortunately was caught in the “free” 14 day trial. They say that it is clearly stated when you sign-up for the free trial that you will be automatically entered into the auto-ship program. But that was not the case, other then buried far into the terms and conditions that you had to click on to say you had read. When I received the first shipment – it was for only 42 tablets and then I read that you needed to be on the product for 3 months to see any effect. Also, the product I received had a best before date that was over 1 year past. They said that this was not a best before date and that their product had a long shelf life – ? –
I noticed that when the next bottle was sent there was not date on it. I have cancelled the autoship and requested a RMA number which you need to ship the product back to them at your own cost. They said I would get my refund when the product is received back from them. We will see. But beware – do not fall for this SCAM.
Instaflex, Somnapure, and Nugenix, among other products, are all marketed and sold by Direct Digital, LLC, a internet marketing company out of Charlotte, NC. They design their own ads and use the free trial business model to get customers. All of their products use cheap and generic ingredients for pretty mediocre results, if any.