Before and After claims

I think I found out how a lot of this infomercials get those great before and after shots. My brother in law is a physical fitness nut, he's the guy you see in those infomercials, bulging muscles, ripped abs... the whole package. Well yesterday while working out at the gym he was approached by the guy saying the were working on this infomercial. They were willing to pay him $7500 to be in the infomercial. All he had to do was say he loved this product and used it... oh and gain 30lbs. Basically they were going to shoot the infomercial with him now as the 'after', then have him do the Brigid Jones diet and gain 30lbs quick then shoot the 'before' part of the infomercial.

No wonder these people don't just lose weight in 30 days, they go from fat to ripped. :)

Mon. Nov 6, 10:35am

Oh my god. That is totally crazy. I never would have imagined that in a million years. Airbrush I've always known about but never the bridget jones thing.

Monday, November 06, 2006, 10:39 AM

He's not going to do it is he?

Monday, November 06, 2006, 10:42 AM

I do not how much you would have to pay me to gain back the 30 pounds I have lost. And what damage to do to your body to gain and then lose again. I know actors do it all the time. I guess it would have to be at least enough to hire a full-time personal chef and trainer for the rest of my life...

Monday, November 06, 2006, 10:56 AM

I'm a copywriter, and I always feel so sorry for the guys who have to write the copy for those commercials. It's almost as bad as writing credit card solicitations. Personally, I'm happy writing copy selling stuff that people really want, and that does them some good. But I guess in a tight job market, someone has to do it.

Monday, November 06, 2006, 11:08 AM

Never really thought about it, but it does make more sense to pay someone to gain weight than to try to take a semi-flabby person and try to get them to lose it and build jaw-dropping muscle on the sort of schedule advertisers work on. Still... :P

Monday, November 06, 2006, 2:44 PM

a lot of times it can be computer animated stuff too. or instead of 30 days of them losing the weight it was more like a year!!!

Monday, November 06, 2006, 2:47 PM

That's terrible!! $7,500 would not be enough for me!! I'm not sure what number would be my breaking point, but it'd have to be REALLY high!!

Monday, November 06, 2006, 2:51 PM

We all know this stuff...and yet sooner or later we cave in and try at least one of those products. Look at all the people on this site with Winsor Pilates and Slim in 6 and Turbojam programs (nothing wrong with those - they're useful, just not the magical solution they promise).

Sigh.

Monday, November 06, 2006, 2:52 PM

That's kind of shocking! Ok but just to defend, you can't compare the excercise programs like SI6 or turbo jam which i've had great success with to something that is so BS they need fake people to market it. Bottom line, diet and excercise are the only way to lose weight.

Monday, November 06, 2006, 4:35 PM

See? That's just the point...you think that the people in the exercise programs are real and not lipo'd/airbrushed that way. They're no different, sad as that makes me.

Monday, November 06, 2006, 5:00 PM

Sorry to get slightly off topic here, but I'm not the above person.. .however, I think to comment on what you sad... it's not that we think that the people on the workout videos are not airbrushed, the may very well be, it's that we've used those tapes and found that they're useful to us, that we've lost weight or toned up while using them. And while no, they're not a magic solution, isn't some exercise better then none?

To comment on the actual thread here, I can't believe that they would ask someone to gain weight for a before picture, that is just hideous and shows how ridiculous society has become that they will do absolutely anything to sell their product... not that this is new... just disgusting.

Monday, November 06, 2006, 5:55 PM

OP here...

Yeah I was outraged too when I heard this, although I always knew most of those claims where false.

You'll be happy to know, since I didn't say this originally he declined the request. He is a health food addict, he works out everyday, there is a reason he has the body he does and yeah $7500 wasn't enough temptation.

Thursday, November 09, 2006, 11:33 AM

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