From Sondra Wright
I pride myself on being somewhat marketing savvy. I mean, I know to believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see. I know there are deceptive practices in advertising and companies “stretch” the truth to sell products. I even know to be guided by the Latin doctrine, caveat emptor (let the buyer beware). But none of my knowing curbed my awe on Friday evening, as I watched 20/20 in disbelief – eyes unblinking and mouth wide open!
36 year old Jennifer Nicole Lee – so called “fitness expert” on the TV infomercial circuit who can be seen on any night of the week pitching the popular exercise gadget, Ab Circle Pro. Widely known for her 70lb weight loss success story, a quick internet search reveals Ms. Lee has been crowned with titles like “Hottest Women on the Web” “Sexiest Woman on YouTube,” and according to Askmen.com, “Jennifer is the new beauty icon for women of the future.” I on the other hand am about to crown Ms. Lee with a new title – Fitness Liar Exposed and Busted on 20/20!
As the 20/20 story goes, in 2006 Ms. Lee appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show telling Oprah and the world about her baby weight loss success and even demonstrated how she maintains beautifully toned legs doing weighted squats with her toddler Dillon. Inspiring and easy enough for any busy mom to do, right ladies? Fast forward to Ms. Lee becoming the spokesperson for Ab Circle Pro and little Dillon get’s “thrown under the bus” so to speak. Suddenly, all credit for the post baby weight loss success is now given to Ab Circle Pro. But wait Ms. Lee, how could that be? Because as 20/20 points out the 2004 weight loss occurred a good 4 – 5 years before Ab Circle Pro would even hit the market.
When 20/20 reporter Jim Avila went to Ms. Lee with her EXACT infomercial quotes she accused him of a “grill fest” trying to “skewer” her and “put words” in her mouth. And Ms. Lee remained in denial about her actions as well as other misleading aspects of the infomercial, including the “3-minutes a day” claim, and the altered before photos which made images of people appear larger than what they are.
