A popular online age quiz called, “RealAge”, has gained popularity among many Americans for claiming it can pinpoint a person’s true biological age. In addition, they will make corresponding recommendations for how to stay healthy and young. However, research into RealAge reveals that while the website promotes non-medical solutions to staying young, the company is generating revenue via email by marketing drugs to its members.
The RealAge quiz is designed to select a biological age to a person through a series of questions. The questions determine lifestyle preferences, eating habits, and family history. Once this information is compiled, the survey will then offer advice on what vitamins to take, what to eat, and how to improve on one’s age. Over 27 million people have taken the quiz and roughly 9 million have signed up to become members. That means 9 million people have given their email addresses to RealAge for marketing purposes.
RealAge is very smart with their marketing and have customized the emails that use the person’s quiz answers to make ‘drug’ recommendations based on current symptoms and potential diseases. Now for the ‘real’ insight . . . . Drug companies pay RealAge to send marketing emails directly to the members without any diagnosis from the members’ doctors. This is ‘luring in’ customers to ‘Big Pharma’!
This is a very ‘sneaky’ way that the quiz was made up to so as to attract people in an effort to get them to provide their personal information that one would not normally do.
People are being ‘lured’ by the promise of living longer and changing their lives for the better. Why else would people continue to flock to participate in the RealAge quiz?
IF everyone realized in the beginning that the underlying reason of taking the RealAge quiz is to provide ‘detailed and personal health details’ to drug companies that are looking for new customers, I really don’t think anyone would take the quiz!
Dr. Mehmet Oz is on the advisory board and heavily promoting the quiz on his program, and that is just part of the marketing strategy by RealAge. In addition, it is well advertised on the Internet. Once you are at the website, you are required to submit an email address in order to take the test and then will be continually asked if you wish to receive a free membership to RealAge. Once you accept, your email address is entered into the marketing database and then you will receive email marketing messages promoting pharmaceutical drugs.
RealAge wants everyone to believe that they may be in the “undiagnosed at-risk future patient” and will therefore need drugs. It is not common knowledge because it is not openly disclosed that the ties between RealAge and the pharmaceutical companies is used for marketing purposes.
It should be no surprise that drug companies have a reputation for deceptive marketing and now RealAge appears to be aligned with Big Pharma and their marketing tactics, so beware.
