Gronk and Floyd Mayweather are Getting Sued Over a Teeth-Whitener They Endorsed

Source - Pricey teeth-whitening lights promoted by boxer Floyd Mayweather and football player Rob Gronkowski — which also claim to kill viruses in the mouth — are fraudulent and cheap, court papers allege.

The $5 million class-action suit, brought by Long Island man Burton Kraus, was filed Monday in Brooklyn federal court against Snow Teeth Whitening LLC, its founder and the two athletes who’ve promoted the products on the company site and on social media.

The suit alleges that the defendants “unjustifiably charge over a hundred dollars more than arguable comparable products” based on “false claims that the lights they sell to consumers will dramatically improve the whitening power and antiviral or antiseptic qualities” of the accompanying serum.

However, Kraus claims that “independent lab testing” shows that the light doesn’t do anything to improve the serum’s whitening ability.

“In reality, defendants’ lights are ineffective for those purposes and are very cheap lights that are similar to models sold online for less than five dollars,” the suit alleges. ...

The suit says Gronkowski, the 31-year-old Tampa Bay Buccaneers player nicknamed “Gronk,” has been “compensated for repeatedly promoted [sic] defendants’ products on his individual social media accounts and his ‘Gronknation’ social media accounts.” 

Meanwhile, 43-year-old former pro boxer Mayweather has also “been compensated for contributing his name and image to promote defendants’ products,” and even says in a video that Snow is “the best teeth whitening kit money can buy,” the court papers allege.

I'm not about to either impugn or defend the ability of Snow Teeth's ability to whiten teeth,  its antiviral/antiseptic properties or whether they overcharge for their products. One, because I have no idea. And two, because I've endorsed a few products over the years without having the first clue whether they did what the copy claimed they could. NOT FOR BARSTOOL, MIND YOU. I can't stress enough that all the goods and services we promote are impeccably researched and do everything they say they do as confirmed by every, single one of their hundreds of millions of satisfied customers. FACT. 

But when I was in radio, the way it would work was that a sales person would ask if you're interested in reading an ad and if you say yes they either pull you into a booth to record or you come into the studio to a stack of live reads that you do throughout the show. And you get paid for each one. I always said yes, regardless. And I'd hate to think I could've been sued because some Fantasy sports site was rigged or that chain of sports bars didn't really offer the tastiest appetizers and widest selection of beers on tap for you and your friends to enjoy while you watch the game on their dozens of big screen TVs. 

So seriously, this is a thing now? You can sue a commercial spokesperson because you have a problem with the product they endorse? I'm glad Billy Mays wasn't alive to see this. And to expose himself to financial jeopardy every time some mom couldn't get grass and blood stains out of kid's white t-shirt thanks to OxyClean. I mean, there was a time in recent American history when 75% of every product on TV was endorsed by either Bill Cosby or OJ Simpson. I'd hate to live in a world where they wound up in jail because everyone in the house didn't have room for Jell-O or that Hertz was a good rent-a-car, just not a superstar.

I have to think this will get thrown out of court, right? At least the part of the suit that names Gronk and Floyd Mayweather anyway. I mean, how can anyone reach adulthood and claim they were unduly influenced to buy an inferior product because a famous person told them to? And to way overspend, for that matter. It's 2020, fercrissakes. You can't comparison shop? Check the reviews? Search by price? 

And if this goes any further, where does it end? If I get a warm beer at a Mexican restaurant do I get to sue the Most Interesting Man in the World because he talked me into it? Is Captain Obvious responsible if my hotel room sucks? If I don't like the quote from my insurance adjuster, is that JK Simmons' fault? What if I have problems with my 5G wireless network? If I get a car equipped with Smaht Pahk and don't like it, is every famous person from Boston the car company could afford on the hook for that? Or the annoying doofuses who always sit in the car at the drive-thru talking about fast food, for that matter? Do I get to name Milana Vayntrub in the lawsuit? More to the point, would that mean I'll have to stop pretending she's my girlfriend 25 times every NFL Sunday? 

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No. I don't want to live in that world. Do. Not. Want. Our celebrities deserve the right to act in a commercial without having to actually be responsible for the merits of what they're pretending to believe in. Otherwise we're putting our entire economic system at risk. 

But seriously, do business with all of Barstool sponsors because they deserve your support for them helping to bring you all this amazing content. You'll be glad you did.