The black, bold headline blared: "LOSE WEIGHT, BUILD MUSCLE."
The advertisement, illustrated with a photo of a sexy, slim woman holding a football, goes on to claim that by placing a few drops of their product under your tongue, you can achieve rapid weight loss in all the right places.
The national ad ran in newspapers across the country, including in The Herald earlier this year.
However, this "new advanced" weight-loss formula is making fraudulent claims and is, in fact, illegal to sell for weight loss.
That's the warning the Food and Drug Administration issued in January on "homeopathic" or over-the-counter forms of hCG, after a resurgence of the hormone started to gain popularity as the latest quick fix for Americans eager to drop pounds.
It's interesting that hCG has become popular again after it first appeared on the diet scene more than 55 years ago. HCG was controversial then and still is today.
What's hCG?
HCG stands for human chorionic gonadotropin, a hormone produced by the placenta and found in the urine of pregnant women.
HCG has been approved for use to treat infertility in women, but off-label hCG has also been used as a weight-loss method.
HCG is basically taken two different ways. First, it can be bought over the counter or online in the form of lozenges, oral drops, sprays or pills.
