Mike O’Hearn On Supplement Disclaimers Vs. Common Sense

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Episode 28 of The Mike O’Hearn Show was published on Generation Iron‘s YouTube channel on Jan. 6, 2023. It was the first episode of the show to air in the new year, and it displayed the show’s namesake in a rare solo episode (i.e., no featured guest).
In the episode, O’Hearn speaks to his audience about whether or not bodybuilders, athletes, or other members of the fitness industry should be held liable if the supplements and/or other products they sell don’t do what they’re advertised to do. This topic was inspired by the fallout surrounding the revelation of Brian “The Liver King” Johnson‘s admittance of steroid usage in early December 2022. Check out the full video with O’Hearn below:

[Related: Derek Lunsford Will Not Compete at the 2023 Arnold Classic]
Right before the turn of the new year, Johnson was hit with a $25-million class-action lawsuit in New York. The lawsuit claims that Johnson and his two supplement companies, Ancestral Supplements and The Fittest, committed “an elaborate, well-orchestrated marketing and advertising scheme,” which knowingly duped “vulnerable and health-conscious consumers.” Johnson promoted a diet involving the consumption of raw animal organs (i.e., liver) to well achieve a muscular physique like his.
This discussion is about the response from society about what you can and can’t do in health and fitness.
O’Hearn said that he is confused about what fitness influencers “have to do now to make sure that everybody…people without common sense…understand what’s feasible and what’s not.” This segued into acknowledging disclaimers on products, but O’Hearn was concerned that “the people who are crying about this” would want disclaimers on even seemingly mundane, non-threatening things from “bubblegum to water to eggs” to exercise equipment like stair climbers and leg machines.
It would be a warning on everything possible.
O’Hearn shifts to a point he saw in an unnamed fitness influencer’s YouTube channel about where disclaimers seem to be necessary and where they don’t. For example, O’Hearn agrees that cigarettes should have a disclaimer but disagrees that protein drinks/shakes should. He continues this influencer’s take that a disclaimer should be placed on products sold by people who have physiques that buyers might find aspirational. For example, O’Hearn’s muscle-bound physique worthy of starring in TV shows like American Gladiator could be suggestive of what the products he sells could garner the user.
…me and my protein drink…I need to put a disclaimer cause you’re not going to look like me…or be strong like me?
The discrepancy for O’Hearn seemed to be about what the disclaimer is for. O’Hearn thinks disclaimers are intended to inform the buyer of potential health-related risk, not whether or not the marketing of the product is indicative of the function of the product.
Goes back to early years of promotion — “a Coke and a smile” — just because you have a [coca-cola] doesn’t mean you’re going to smile.
O’Hearn believes that adding disclaimers on “common sense” products “baby us down.”

[Related: Dana Linn Bailey’s Five Progressions To Achieve Your First Pull-Up]
O’Hearn put the spotlight on a topic that he has discussed before on his show that is poignant to the topic at hand: whether or not he’s “on stuff” (suggesting steroids). As was the case in previous instances, he did not outright deny using steroids. Instead, he implied it by listing his competitive bodybuilding resume and the decades he was routinely tested for drugs (specifically citing his 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s). He even mentioned that his role in American Gladiators was contingent on him being drug tested.
Supplementation, Hopes, and Beliefs
Two-thirds of the way through the episode, O’Hearn shared a clip from the 2019 documentary Supps: The Movie, which featured O’Hearn speaking about what he believed supplements could do for him. Check out that clip from writer and director of Supps: The Movie Alex Ardenti’s YouTube channel below:

In the clip, he says the following about Arnold Schwarzenegger promoting Joe Weider’s supplements (note: bolding below done for emphasis):
“It was who [Schwarzenegger] was as a person and a character and the dream he was living. I wanted that. If buying the weight gainer drink gave me a bit of what Arnold was and what Weider’s created, then I’m purchasing that. And that’s what it got me.”
O’Hearn continued about the weight gainer, “it mentally made me believe in a dream…something bigger than myself. It made me have a piece of Arnold, and Frank Zane, [who] were representing the product. It made me think I could be like that. Seeing Arnold next to the product sold me because I was already a fan of Arnold and what he was doing. I was a teenager — I was like, ‘I want that.’”
O’Hearn suggested that while he wanted to mimic Schwarzenegger and Zane by buying the weight gainer, as he idolized them, he did not think that buying the weight gainer would make him them.
[The weight gainer] just gave me hopes and dreams.
Featured image: @mikeohearn on Instagram

Episode 28 of The Mike O’Hearn Show was published on Generation Iron‘s YouTube channel on Jan. 6, 2023. It was the first episode of the show to air in the new year, and it displayed the show’s namesake in a rare solo episode (i.e., no featured guest).


In the episode, O’Hearn speaks to his audience about whether or not bodybuilders, athletes, or other members of the fitness industry should be held liable if the supplements and/or other products they sell don’t do what they’re advertised to do. This topic was inspired by the fallout surrounding the revelation of Brian “The Liver King” Johnson‘s admittance of steroid usage in early December 2022. Check out the full video with O’Hearn below:



[Related: Derek Lunsford Will Not Compete at the 2023 Arnold Classic]


Right before the turn of the new year, Johnson was hit with a $25-million class-action lawsuit in New York. The lawsuit claims that Johnson and his two supplement companies, Ancestral Supplements and The Fittest, committed “an elaborate, well-orchestrated marketing and advertising scheme,” which knowingly duped “vulnerable and health-conscious consumers.” Johnson promoted a diet involving the consumption of raw animal organs (i.e., liver) to well achieve a muscular physique like his.


This discussion is about the response from society about what you can and can’t do in health and fitness.

[/quote]
O’Hearn said that he is confused about what fitness influencers “have to do now to make sure that everybody…people without common sense…understand what’s feasible and what’s not.” This segued into acknowledging disclaimers on products, but O’Hearn was concerned that “the people who are crying about this” would want disclaimers on even seemingly mundane, non-threatening things from “bubblegum to water to eggs” to exercise equipment like stair climbers and leg machines.


It would be a warning on everything possible.

[/quote]
O’Hearn shifts to a point he saw in an unnamed fitness influencer’s YouTube channel about where disclaimers seem to be necessary and where they don’t. For example, O’Hearn agrees that cigarettes should have a disclaimer but disagrees that protein drinks/shakes should. He continues this influencer’s take that a disclaimer should be placed on products sold by people who have physiques that buyers might find aspirational. For example, O’Hearn’s muscle-bound physique worthy of starring in TV shows like American Gladiator could be suggestive of what the products he sells could garner the user.


…me and my protein drink…I need to put a disclaimer cause you’re not going to look like me…or be strong like me?

[/quote]
The discrepancy for O’Hearn seemed to be about what the disclaimer is for. O’Hearn thinks disclaimers are intended to inform the buyer of potential health-related risk, not whether or not the marketing of the product is indicative of the function of the product.


Goes back to early years of promotion — “a Coke and a smile” — just because you have a [coca-cola] doesn’t mean you’re going to smile.

[/quote]
O’Hearn believes that adding disclaimers on “common sense” products “baby us down.”



[Related: Dana Linn Bailey’s Five Progressions To Achieve Your First Pull-Up]


O’Hearn put the spotlight on a topic that he has discussed before on his show that is poignant to the topic at hand: whether or not he’s “on stuff” (suggesting steroids). As was the case in previous instances, he did not outright deny using steroids. Instead, he implied it by listing his competitive bodybuilding resume and the decades he was routinely tested for drugs (specifically citing his 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s). He even mentioned that his role in American Gladiators was contingent on him being drug tested.


Supplementation, Hopes, and Beliefs
Two-thirds of the way through the episode, O’Hearn shared a clip from the 2019 documentary Supps: The Movie, which featured O’Hearn speaking about what he believed supplements could do for him. Check out that clip from writer and director of Supps: The Movie Alex Ardenti’s YouTube channel below:



In the clip, he says the following about Arnold Schwarzenegger promoting Joe Weider’s supplements (note: bolding below done for emphasis):


“It was who [Schwarzenegger] was as a person and a character and the dream he was living. I wanted that. If buying the weight gainer drink gave me a bit of what Arnold was and what Weider’s created, then I’m purchasing that. And that’s what it got me.”


O’Hearn continued about the weight gainer, “it mentally made me believe in a dream…something bigger than myself. It made me have a piece of Arnold, and Frank Zane, [who] were representing the product. It made me think I could be like that. Seeing Arnold next to the product sold me because I was already a fan of Arnold and what he was doing. I was a teenager — I was like, ‘I want that.’


O’Hearn suggested that while he wanted to mimic Schwarzenegger and Zane by buying the weight gainer, as he idolized them, he did not think that buying the weight gainer would make him them.


[The weight gainer] just gave me hopes and dreams.

[/quote]
Featured image: @mikeohearn on Instagram




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