{"id":8106,"date":"2012-02-03T04:00:10","date_gmt":"2012-02-03T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/news\/?p=8106"},"modified":"2012-02-03T02:16:02","modified_gmt":"2012-02-03T07:16:02","slug":"teen-tanning-sting-questioned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/teen-tanning-sting-questioned\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen Tanning Sting Questioned"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New Jersey tanning business owner reported in July 2011 that an undercover investigator who phoned her salon alleging to be a 16-year-old prospective customer badgered her into attempting to make false statements about tanning \u2014 a charge that now appears to be leveled at an investigative report issued Feb. 1 by four U.S. Congress members and which could make the report\u2019s findings fraudulent.<\/p>\n

Smart Tan member Courtney Gilmartin, owner of International Tan in Point Pleasant, NJ, took a call July 21, 2011 from a woman who alleged she was 16, was new to the area and wanted to tan even though her parents would not allow it. Gilmartin knew the call was bogus and that it originated from a Washington, D.C., phone number and reported the suspicious call to Smart Tan, which ran a story on SmartTan.com July 29, 2011.<\/p>\n

Here is that story in the SmartTan.com archive.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

After the story ran, Smart Tan members nationwide reported receiving suspicious calls from the same Washington, D.C., phone number. Reports to Smart Tan indicated the callers did not follow a set script, asked completely different questions to different salons and typically re-directed questions attempting to get positive answers \u2014 charges that, if connected to the report issued by four Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee this week, could constitute academic fraud.<\/p>\n

The report issued Tuesday alleged that indoor tanning facility operators mislead clients about the risks and benefits of UV exposure and indoor tanning \u2014 calling for regulators to enact an under-18 ban on indoor tanning. Smart Tan reported Wednesday that the report itself contained factually inaccurate information. Here is the link to that story.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

To produce the report, congressional staff made phone calls to 300 tanning salons nationwide alleging on the phone that they were 16-year-old women who wanted to tan. Callers did not actually visit a tanning salon. The sample group was not random, nor did the survey appear to follow any uniform script, which is standard practice for such a survey. (See standards for this type of market research as published by the Marketing Research Association:).<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Based on the reports to Smart Tan in July 2011 it is clear no script was followed and appears that investigators randomly re-directed questions to mine for positive answers, which would be fraudulent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew from her voice she was not 16,\u201d Gilmartin told Smart Tan in July. \u201cBut I let her go on.\u201d Gilmartin read her the New Jersey regulations, which require a tanner aged 14-18 to bring a parent to the salon with them prior to tanning. \u201cShe was definitely trying to get me to say something,\u201d Gilmartin said.<\/p>\n

Despite clearly being told she couldn\u2019t tan without a parent\u2019s permission, the caller kept re-structuring the question to try to get Gilmartin to re-phrase her answer. \u201cShe went on to say, ok, I have really fair skin, so am I still allowed to go tanning?\u201d Gilmartin said in the July interview. \u201cI said I\u2019d have to see you in person. That we\u2019d need to learn your skin type and see if you are skin type I.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Gilmartin knew she was definitely being toyed with. \u201cAnd then after that she said, \u2018I have acne and would tanning help. It was just so by book. No 16-year-old would ask questions that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Gilmartin decided to end the charade. \u201cI asked her, \u2018So you\u2019re 16. What\u2019s your date of birth?\u2019 It was silent for a second and she fumbled around and I heard someone in the background, and then she hung up. I could tell she was in her 20s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilmartin called the 202-area-code number back. A man answered and alleged he was a New Jersey-based cleaning business. When pressed for details about the call she received, the man hung up.<\/p>\n

Smart Tan believes the survey questions as asked to Gilmartin and others completely destroy the credibility of the Report issued Tuesday. \u201cIt does not appear the bogus caller followed a standard script \u2014 which would be key to uniformity in this kind of study and is standard procedure in collecting survey data,\u201d Smart Tan Vice President Joseph Levy said. \u201cBecause it appears this survey was not done not in a random fashion, but as a fishing expedition designed to support an agenda, they data collected from this project should be dismissed and those involved could actually be liable for legal or other disciplinary action.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A New Jersey tanning business owner reported in July 2011 that an undercover investigator who phoned her salon alleging to be a 16-year-old prospective customer badgered her into attempting to make false statements about tanning \u2014 a charge that now appears to be leveled at an investigative report issued Feb. 1 by four U.S. Congress […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTeen Tanning Sting Questioned - Smart Tan News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A New Jersey tanning business owner reported in July 2011 that an undercover investigator who phoned her salon alleging to be a 16-year-old prospective customer badgered her into attempting to make false statements about tanning -- a charge that now appears to be leveled at an investigative report issued Feb. 1 by four U.S. Congress members and which could make the report\u2019s findings fraudulent.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/teen-tanning-sting-questioned\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teen Tanning Sting Questioned - 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