FACT CHECK: Ad for apple cider vinegar shampoo is AI-manipulated 

Claim: Filipino actress Sue Ramirez and online health personality Dr. Willie Ong, also known as Doc Willie, endorse the use of an apple cider vinegar shampoo for hair growth and dandruff treatment. 

Rating: FALSE

Why we fact-checked this: The video containing the claim has 1,500 views, 36 comments, and 31 reactions as of writing. Several Facebook pages also reposted it. 

The video shows an interview of Ramirez with Filipino television host Boy Abunda, where Ramirez seemingly shared how the Paloma Apple Cider Vinegar Shampoo helped her grow her hair. The video also shows Ong supposedly endorsing the same product. 

The facts: Neither Ramirez nor Ong endorsed the shampoo. The video consists of clips manipulated using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. 

Sensity, a web-based tool for detecting AI, found the video “suspicious” in their pixel and voice analyses. The audio of the video scored 99.9% confidence level, while face manipulation scored 79.1%.

“High confidence indicates that the detector has found definite signals of AI generation or manipulation. The minimum confidence for this detector is 50%,” according to Sensity. 

The altered interview of Ramirez came from a video originally posted on June 30, 2018. Nowhere in the interview did Ramirez endorse a specific product for hair growth. Instead, she talked about her annoyance with people’s speculations on her then newly-cut hair.

Meanwhile, Ong’s clip was originally from a March 22, 2024 video, where he talked about the whooping cough outbreak. 

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Not FDA registered: Paloma Apple Cider Vinegar Shampoo is not on the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) list of cosmetic products with certificates of product notification. The FDA verification portal shows no results for searches using the keywords “Paloma shampoo” and “Paloma apple cider vinegar shampoo.”

FDA Administrative Order 2007-013 requires a company or person to secure a certificate of product notification before cosmetic products are placed on the market. The notification shall contain the following information: 

• brand name
• product name 
• product variants and types
• its intended use
• product presentations
• details of the manufacturer or supplier
• product ingredient list
• details of the local company responsible for placing the product on the market

Rappler has fact-checked advertisements that use AI manipulation techniques to promote unregistered products: 

• FACT CHECK:  Manipulated video cites Willie Ong ‘endorsement’ for hypertension ‘cure’
• FACT CHECK: Billy Crawford interview used in weight loss ad is AI-edited
• FACT CHECK: Jessica Soho’s weight loss pill ‘report’ is AI-manipulated
• FACT CHECK: Ad uses AI-edited videos of Henry Omaga-Diaz, Doc Willie Ong
• FACT CHECK: Video report by TV anchors on ‘free’ necklace is fake, AI manipulated 

– Ailla Dela Cruz/Rappler.com

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.