Beachbody filed a lawsuit against ICON Health and Fitness this week over allegedly making false and disparaging statements to promote its Rip:60 workout program. Looks like this legal fight started back in February between the two sides. Beachbody’s lawyers are saying the only reason why they are suing is because “”ICON’s ad campaign, unfortunately, is misleading consumers by falsely advertising that its product is superior to P90X and Insanity.” I had never heard of Rip:60 before so I went and did some searching. I understand why Beachbody is suing them. Take a look at their two biggest ads.
and
Have to agree with Beachbody on this one as it can’t be anymore clearer. Reading into the lawsuit a little bit more turns out that Beachbody is not afraid of a little competition but is more concerned with the entire paragraph in the second ad claiming that “In a recent study…rip:60 tested the highest…” Beachbody wants proof of that study.
I was trying to think of other industries that bash its competitors and the auto one came to mind since I live near Detroit. After watching some commercials and ads for the new F-150 I noticed they had their competitors in the ad with them. Of course they showed the F-150 going 0-60 faster than the Sliverado and Ram while towing a boat but the ad looked fair.
The small print on the bottom showed the different axles in the trucks for all the people with real knowledge about why the Ford was maybe faster. It seems like this is a common practice in the auto industry. You have to acknowledge that your competitors are there and that they make a good product but you have to show why yours is that much better. You can’t just say it.
I get the feeling that nobody who promotes Rip:60 has ever done P90X or Insanity. The one thing that always makes me laugh is when people say their program is “better” than yours. My reply is “I assume you did the other program to a T so you can give me a fair assessment of why yours is better. Go.” Of course, they never have and all credibility is lost.
From time to time I’ll have somebody leave a “CrossFit is better than P90X” comment on my site and when I ask the question above I get no reply. Yes, I am very involved as a Beachbody Coach and am addicted to their products but I add in non-Beachbody workouts frequently. Most of which are swimming, running, and biking but I know I would get my butt kicked doing something like CrossFit, Bikram Yoga, or even the Stripper Pole workout as I’ve never done those before.
Instead of using “better” I think fitness companies and people defending their program should use “different” in their campaigns if they are going to call out their competitors. Rip:60 shouldn’t say its clinically better than P90X in their ads when they should be saying its “Different than P90X because we use these band things that are not used in P90X but are a little different than the TRX band system.” People like and need different when it comes to their health and fitness. How many people say they get bored of their workout routines at the gym and need something different? Lots of them.
I think its silly when health and fitness companies bash each others products. What they should do is acknowledge that their competitors make a great product that is helping people get in shape and lose weight while turning on the salesmanship to get people to buy theirs. If I was Rip:60 I would not even mention P90X or the Insanity workout in my ads as all it does is build up more brand recognition for Beachbody. People are going to see those ads, go to Google, and type in Does P90X Work? After seeing the million or so success stories and the community behind it, that person will probably forget about what you were trying to sell them and end up buying P90X or Insanity. What do you think about all of this?