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A new study by the Better Business Bureau shows the Hispanic community is bombarded with ads offering false information and often false hope for disease cures or a better lifestyle.

Charlie Mattingly, a spokesperson for the Better Business Bureau in Louisville, said that Cynthia Mulligan, also an employee of the Louisville Better Business Bureau, looked for Kentucky ads and examined them against the code of advertising and Federal Trade Commission guidelines, and found many of the ads were deceptive.

“Certainly there were people here who were targets of some of that advertising,” Mattingly said. “Part of it is an effort to exploit an advantage of dealing with people who may have language issues at times.”

Mattingly said he saw a mortgage ad quoting terms in Spanish that sounded good but would have the person sign the paperwork quoting different terms in English, something Mattingly thinks was aimed to take advantage of a non-English speaker.

“It's not unusual that those schemes target those who are at a disadvantage in terms of credit or those seeking opportunity for employment,” Mattingly said. “That would be true if you were Hispanic or any other person.”

More than half the deceptive ads were health-related, and made false claims for weight loss products and “disease cures.”

The ads claimed treatments and cures for serious diseases, most often diabetes and cancer.

Work-at-home and business opportunity ads with questionable claims represented the second most common type of ads found during the study.

Better Business Bureaus serving Louisville, southern Indiana and western Kentucky took part in the study.

The FTC sent letters to 166 advertisers and 77 media outlets warning about potentially deceptive advertisements targeting Hispanics.

The ads were spotted during a one-day study of Spanish-language newspaper, magazine, Internet, radio and TV ads. Individuals (from across the U.S. and in five Latin American countries) who took part in the study focused on identifying potentially deceptive ads aimed at Hispanics in three areas: health, credit and business opportunities.

Get-rich-quick schemes for at-home craft assembly and envelope stuffing were also found, and participants questioned ads offering credit repair, guaranteed credit and other services.

- For more information on deceptive ads aimed at Spanish-speaking populations, visit http://www.ftc.gov.

A good mistake?

An error last week in my column about Panera Bread's impact on local cafes may have helped one business owner.

Kimberly Malone-Wieskircher, owner of Bread and Bagel on Broadway Avenue, called to say she has had several phone calls from people wanting to know the location of her store on Campbell Lane, an address that was incorrectly inserted next to her store.

There is no such store on Campbell Lane but because the callers had not been to the Broadway store, Malone-Wieskirche said the mistake may have generated some new business.

- Business reporter Ameerah Cetawayo doesn't like to miss a story. E-mail her at acetawayo@bgdaily news.com or call 783-3246.