Susan Powter, anyone?
Diet pickle for Dr. Phil
E-mails may be hard to swallow
BY MICHELLE CARUSO
DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF
LOS ANGELES -
"Dr. Phil" McGraw admits in damning E-mails he had "no expertise" in making the line of diet products he endorsed and is being sued for.
Still, he put his name on Shape Up! nutrition supplements, shakes and energy bars after asking for "the strongest of disclaimers" in the products' ads.
His concerns, detailed in E-mail printouts contained in court records and obtained by the Daily News, may come back to haunt him in the class-action fraud suit filed by angry users of the diet line.
With his demand for the warning label suggesting misgivings about the Shape Up! hype, the E-mails may be a weighty topic at his deposition, which could take place as early as next month.
"This fleshes out our position that Dr. Phil was in charge...he was rewriting the commercials," said lawyer Henry Rossbacher, who filed the class-action suit against Dr. Phil in 2004.
The suit alleges Dr. Phil, who endorsed the products, and CSA Nutraceuticals, which marketed them, made phony claims about Shape Up! products.
Ads and packaging promised the products could "help you change your behavior to take control of your weight" and "control eating impulses."
Those claims were "deceptive and fraudulent," the suit alleges.
Dr. Phil - the top-rated TV show host who bolted to fame as the best-selling author of "The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom" - denies the accusations.
"It's a pretty silly claim," his Dallas lawyer, Bill Dawson, said. "It's the kind of suit that makes people hate lawyers."
The recommended dosage of Shape Up! supplements was 22 pills a day and cost $120 a month. CSA stopped selling the products early last year when faced with a Federal Trade Commission probe into false-advertising allegations.
Dozens of E-mails in the court record offer an inside glimpse of Dr. Phil's high-powered lifestyle, fiery temper and king-size ego as the Shape Up! launch was readied in 2003.
On July 6, Dr. Phil was so mad about an early piece of promotional copy that he dashed off an uppercase tirade:
"... I HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR WEEKS AND WEEKS THAT RICHARDS WAS NOT GOING TO WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE AND THEN PRESSURE ME FOR CONTENT AND REACTION....
"... THEY NEED TO REDO THE ONE THAT SAYS I CREATED THESE PRODUCTS B/C I HAVE NO EXPERTISE....," he wrote.
In another E-mail that night, he wrote: "...we need to kill or redo all of those.... All of the press releases, or whatever they are, are way too Phil-centric."
Nearly two weeks later, Dr. Phil was still displeased with the promo copy.
"With regards to the brochure, we want the STRONGEST of disclaimers and instructions about consulting physicians. ASSUME a litigation in our future, and put on the warning label what we would want if we were having to defend ourselves," he wrote on July 19.
Things got worse on Sept. 25, when Dr. Phil saw the preliminary TV ads.
"SURELY THEY HAVE ALTERNATIVES? ... THE TV STUFF WILL BE A TRAIN WRECK IF IT RUNS. TV IS WHAT I DO ... AND TRUST ME THOSE ARE BAD, BAD, BAD," Dr. Phil fumed in another all-caps diatribe.
In a message about a marketing plan to link the Web site of Shape Up! to his own, Dr.Phil.com, he scoffed, "Problem is, that is the tail waggin' the dog and it is not at all perceived as a favor. DrPhil.com has millions of hits and Shape Up! has zero and never will rival our show's #s."
When told that Sam's Club and Wal-Mart wanted him to speak at their annual management meetings on Aug. 17, 2003, Dr. Phil balked.
"Not saying it's not worth it, but want to know what we get out of it. Sam's and Wal-Mart order my books anyway.... That's no favor. They need me," he wrote.
Originally published on December 5, 2005
Diet pickle for Dr. Phil
E-mails may be hard to swallow
BY MICHELLE CARUSO
DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF
LOS ANGELES -
"Dr. Phil" McGraw admits in damning E-mails he had "no expertise" in making the line of diet products he endorsed and is being sued for.
Still, he put his name on Shape Up! nutrition supplements, shakes and energy bars after asking for "the strongest of disclaimers" in the products' ads.
His concerns, detailed in E-mail printouts contained in court records and obtained by the Daily News, may come back to haunt him in the class-action fraud suit filed by angry users of the diet line.
With his demand for the warning label suggesting misgivings about the Shape Up! hype, the E-mails may be a weighty topic at his deposition, which could take place as early as next month.
"This fleshes out our position that Dr. Phil was in charge...he was rewriting the commercials," said lawyer Henry Rossbacher, who filed the class-action suit against Dr. Phil in 2004.
The suit alleges Dr. Phil, who endorsed the products, and CSA Nutraceuticals, which marketed them, made phony claims about Shape Up! products.
Ads and packaging promised the products could "help you change your behavior to take control of your weight" and "control eating impulses."
Those claims were "deceptive and fraudulent," the suit alleges.
Dr. Phil - the top-rated TV show host who bolted to fame as the best-selling author of "The Ultimate Weight Solution: The 7 Keys to Weight Loss Freedom" - denies the accusations.
"It's a pretty silly claim," his Dallas lawyer, Bill Dawson, said. "It's the kind of suit that makes people hate lawyers."
The recommended dosage of Shape Up! supplements was 22 pills a day and cost $120 a month. CSA stopped selling the products early last year when faced with a Federal Trade Commission probe into false-advertising allegations.
Dozens of E-mails in the court record offer an inside glimpse of Dr. Phil's high-powered lifestyle, fiery temper and king-size ego as the Shape Up! launch was readied in 2003.
On July 6, Dr. Phil was so mad about an early piece of promotional copy that he dashed off an uppercase tirade:
"... I HAVE BEEN SAYING FOR WEEKS AND WEEKS THAT RICHARDS WAS NOT GOING TO WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE AND THEN PRESSURE ME FOR CONTENT AND REACTION....
"... THEY NEED TO REDO THE ONE THAT SAYS I CREATED THESE PRODUCTS B/C I HAVE NO EXPERTISE....," he wrote.
In another E-mail that night, he wrote: "...we need to kill or redo all of those.... All of the press releases, or whatever they are, are way too Phil-centric."
Nearly two weeks later, Dr. Phil was still displeased with the promo copy.
"With regards to the brochure, we want the STRONGEST of disclaimers and instructions about consulting physicians. ASSUME a litigation in our future, and put on the warning label what we would want if we were having to defend ourselves," he wrote on July 19.
Things got worse on Sept. 25, when Dr. Phil saw the preliminary TV ads.
"SURELY THEY HAVE ALTERNATIVES? ... THE TV STUFF WILL BE A TRAIN WRECK IF IT RUNS. TV IS WHAT I DO ... AND TRUST ME THOSE ARE BAD, BAD, BAD," Dr. Phil fumed in another all-caps diatribe.
In a message about a marketing plan to link the Web site of Shape Up! to his own, Dr.Phil.com, he scoffed, "Problem is, that is the tail waggin' the dog and it is not at all perceived as a favor. DrPhil.com has millions of hits and Shape Up! has zero and never will rival our show's #s."
When told that Sam's Club and Wal-Mart wanted him to speak at their annual management meetings on Aug. 17, 2003, Dr. Phil balked.
"Not saying it's not worth it, but want to know what we get out of it. Sam's and Wal-Mart order my books anyway.... That's no favor. They need me," he wrote.
Originally published on December 5, 2005
