There is no doubt that many of the products sold by Joe Weider, his brother Ben and his wife Betty were quite respectable. But in the ’70s, their mail order “Body Shaper” resulted in them getting a great deal of hot water.
Canadian muscleman Joe Widder—who spent the late 1930s and early 1940s breaking records in weightlifting across his homeland, and who also held high on many bodybuilding competitions in the 1950s—was also a pioneering genius who may have benefited from His fitness successes are better than anyone before or after him. Case in point: Before the close of the 1940s, Weider was selling nutritional supplements, publishing magazines devoted to physical growth, and he, along with his brother Ben, founded what would become the most influential governing body in bodybuilding history: the International Bodybuilding Federation, which It was eventually renamed the International Federation of Bodybuilding & Fitness.
Speaking of the Weider family business, after an ugly divorce from his first wife, Weider hastily married Betty Brosmer, the famous pin-up girl, in 1961. Four years later, Weiders created what remains the world’s most influential bodybuilding show – the Mister Contest Olympia. Shortly thereafter, they began focusing more attention on female demographics, and introduced a range of exercisers and other tools aimed at promoting a slim, plump figure for women under Betty Weider’s Body Persuasion product line. This was also at the same time as the Weider Body Shaper appeared.
Unlike previous Weider products—particularly dumbbells and weights—I felt a shade of the jump. Namely, the original advertisements for the Body Shaper consist of a series of questionable weight loss claims from purported users, packed with vague descriptions of the exercise technique involved, but no actual images depicting the product in use.
The ads were so vague that even people who were still somehow convinced to order a Body Shaper were ignorant of what they would get in the end. Angry customers who thought they were ordering a classic body shaper or waist trainer wrote to local newspapers to express their complaints and warn others. “Weider International in Woodland Hills, California sent me a rope and pulley powered tool called the Total Body Shaper,” one customer lamented. Philadelphia Inquirer. “I sent it back because I ordered the corset for 5 minutes. Now they won’t give me back $10.98. What is this company doing?”
Somehow, though, Weiders managed to keep the Body Shaper on sales from late 1972 to 1974 without revealing a picture of what the rope and pulley tool looked like. However, before the end of the year, they definitely managed to get a very good look at what the court subpoena was like.
In May 1974, the Los Angeles Superior Court appointed Joe and Betty Wader as defendants in a lawsuit alleging false advertisements in before and after images used in Total Body Shaper advertisements. Their claim that the proven results have been verified by thousands [of customers] that appear in many advertisements are wrong in that there is no such evidence,” Deputy Attorney General Gilbert Garsett told Los Angeles Times.
The attorney general’s office even made points of “pseudo-factors” in Weider’s ad:
- Most of the photographs have been modified or made to show apparent weight loss through the use of lighting, facial expressions, clothing, posture, or camera angle.
- Often the people portrayed are professional models, not regular clients as they claim.
- Other models depicted in the ads included the photographer’s daughter, Weider’s company console, general manager, and other employees or spouses of employees, including Betty Weider herself.
- The people listed in the ad text as “experts” believe they are in favor of a diet and exercise program rather than just using the device.
- The so-called “unsolicited” letters were requested by the defendants through a competition that offered a prize of $1,000 for the best entry.
Apparently as a result of exposure to this lawsuit, the Body Shaper advertisement began featuring the actual product purchased – a doorway-mounted pulley system that could operate arms and legs simultaneously – along with still images of the Body Shaper in use. Ads have also started recommending the Body Shaper Pro during multiple five-minute training sessions each day.
Ironically, in those same ads, extended sections are devoted to explaining why dieting is harmful and does not lead to long-term weight loss. (Weiders’ fishy food suggestion? “There’s no strict diet. We suggest you eat 20 percent less temporarily until you reach your normal weight—without giving up any of the foods you love. Eat ice cream, cake, pasta, whatever!”)
Body Shaper ads that appeared later in 1975 contained other harmful ingredients. Ben Wedder’s face appeared in one ad, identifying him as the president of the International Federation of Bodybuilding. The implication was that the Body Shaper was a proper bodybuilding tool, when neither Weider nor any of the bodybuilders on his list would have been caught dead strapped into a Body Shaper unless they were receiving heavy support to check out their problems.
In January 1976, a Los Angeles Supreme Court ruling brought the Weiders back to reality. The court ordered them to refund $10.50 to each of the nearly 100,000 Californians who purchased the Body Shaper Pro. The crux of the suit was the strong implication that just five minutes of daily exercise was enough to achieve significant weight loss. Since five minutes of jogging is often not enough to burn up to 50 calories for many people, it would be impossible to believe that spending five minutes on the ground with arms and legs moving in the air would be enough to make a respectable calorie effect.
With their product irreparably damaged by the lawsuit, Weiders began offloading the rest of their Body Shapers in 1977 at the deeply discounted price of $2.
Despite the setback caused by the failure of the Body Shaper, it was impossible for the Weider brand to suffer any long-term damage when it included its range of products. Muscle and fitness magazine, appearance The Mr. Olympia magazine, whose prestige will soon be magnified tenfold thanks to its immortalization in the 1980 historical documentary. iron pump Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In the end, it seems as though such unconditional successes had provided Joe and the rest of the Weider family with faith in their own prevention, and they soon found themselves in trouble with the United States government again in the mid-1980s to market and sell them. Anabolic Mega Pak is an alternative steroid alternative.
As a man who built a fitness empire on his strong back, Joe Vader seems to literally think he’s too old to fail, even though all the evidence suggests he’s always been too big to get away with.
Ian Douglas
Ian Douglas is a volunteer firefighter, rower who lacks Concept2 and SkiErger and is the worst American swimming teacher in recorded history. He also helps professional wrestlers publish their resumes, helps entrepreneurs write coherent ideas, and has overrated testimonials from Michigan and Northwestern.
