Formula No. 7 Investigation and Others

Formula No. 7 Weight Gainer

Plato believed that having a sole authority over a text would potentially lead to a death of dialogue and Joe Weider exemplified this within the bodybuilding community. Sure, he has promoted many people and helped many achieve great things within the fitness world, but has done it to benefit himself. For example, Weider went under investigation in 1972 for his Formula No. 7 weight gain shake. In the ad, Weider claimed you could gain up to a pound of muscle a day drinking this shake. Investigators interviewed Weider and Schwarzenegger and realized that there was no proof to this claim. Once they did, Weider was forced to edit the claims made on the product and advertisements.

Advertisement for Formula No. 7 in Flex Magazine

Again in the '70s, Weider was forced to refund over 100,000 customers who bought his "Five Minute Body Shaper" after claims stating that one could lose significant amounts of weight using it for five minutes a day. Again, these ads featured unrealistic before and after photos with very misleading claims.

During the '80s, the Federal Trade Commission charged Weider, stating that Weider's Anabolic Mega-Pak (containing amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and herbs) and Dynamic Life Essence (an amino acid product) had been misleading. It was dropped in 1985 when Weider decided to remove claims that stated these products could build muscle and effectively be a substitute for anabolic steroids. He also had to pay $400,000 in refund.

Advertisement in Flex Magazine for Weider's Anabolic Mega-Pack

There is a concern over establishing one sole authority to determine what's valid and what isn't. As you can see, Joe Weider, despite achieving great things for bodybuilding, had a personal agenda and worked endlessly to further his career. People have spent thousands of dollars trying to find that edge that Weider claimed to have with his products and methods and, more often than not, they never backed up claims made about them.