Don Lapre

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Don Lapre in one of his infomercials

Donald D. Lapre (born May, 1964) is an American multi-level marketing salesman and infomercial personality. His work has involved such products as The Greatest Vitamin in the World and Making Money Secrets.

1 Business ventures
- 1.1 The Greatest Vitamin in the World
2 Criticism
3 Popular culture
4 References

[edit] Business ventures

In 1990 Lapre and his wife, whom he married in 1988, started a credit repair business called Unknown Concepts. Lapre then began selling a 36-page booklet explaining how to recover a Federal Home Association insurance refund after paying off a home mortgage. He also began offering "900" phone lines. Lapre claimed that by placing "tiny ads" in newspapers he was able to make $50,000 per week.^{[citation needed]}

In 1992, Lapre began broadcasting The Making Money Show with Don Lapre, which promised viewers that they could make money as easily as he had. For several years the show was ranked among the ten most frequently broadcast cable television infomercials. The principal product was Lapre's "Money Making Secrets," a package of booklets, tapes, and common sense tips for placing ads and operating a 900-number business. The product was sold through New Strategies, whose parent company was Tropical Beaches.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Greatest Vitamin in the World

Lapre sought to enter the nutritional supplement market in 1997 and contacted Doug Grant, a well known "vitamin peddler", to help him develop one.^{[citation needed]} In January 2003 Torica Productions began operations in Phoenix, Arizona to market their latest product as The Greatest Vitamin in the World. A new Don Lapre infomercial soon followed, featuring The Greatest Vitamin in the World and Lapre boasting, that "Nothing like this has ever been seen before in the history of the world!"

In 2005 the Food and Drug Administration warned Lapre about claims his vitamin was intended as a drug for diseases such as diabetes, stroke, heart disease, insomnia, cancer, and arthritis. The FDA stated that; Your products are not generally recognized as safe and effective for the above referenced conditions".^[1]^[2]

[edit] Criticism

The Better Business Bureau states that Universal Business Strategies, one of Lapre's now-defunct companies; has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to unanswered complaints and a pattern of complaints concerning selling practices.^[3] Consumer watchdog organizations such as Quackwatch have accused Lapre of peddling Get-rich-quick schemes.^[4] Websites such as the Ripoff Report have numerous consumer complaints about Lapre and his products and business practices.^[5]