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Stylish weight loss (sham, 1971, + Python spoof)
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EnmebaraGuesser piefed.ca EnmebaraGuesser@piefed.ca
Joined: 2026-07-08
Quote

This product was advertised in the 1970s - 1981, when the couple behind it, Jack and Eileen Feather, was indicted on mail fraud and false advertising charges. They also sold several other sham products, including a bust enhancement device. They eventually paid $1.1M for materially false claims and stopped selling their products.

In 1971 the USPS commissioned a test of the Sauna Belt by a physician in 20 subjects, which concluded:

the variations in girth of less than one-eighth of an inch that occurred were due to normal variations which might occur without regard to the following of Respondent's plan; that there were more increases than decreases in girth during the study as a whole; and that the following of Respondent's plan produces no significant results in terms of the girth of the user.

You might change your hydration status by sweating, but that weight returns when you re-hydrate. The instructions advised a lower calorie diet and exercise, which can yield weight loss, but you don't need the company's belt or pants to do that.

Monty Python had a spoof of these pants.

There is still a market for similar products today.

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schipelblorp sh.itjust.works schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-05-16
#2 · (edited) Quote Reply

Remember it's FASCISM to regulate the market. --Mel Gibson

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J6bv92W4YnE

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username_1 discuss.tchncs.de username_1@discuss.tchncs.de
Joined: 2026-06-01
#3 · Quote Reply

Remember it's FASCISM to regulate the market. --Mel Gibson https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J6bv92W4YnE

Since when M.Gibson is an economist or socio-something? Unregulated market inevitably moves toward imperialism and slavery.

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schipelblorp sh.itjust.works schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-05-16
#4 · Quote Reply

Since when M.Gibson is an economist or socio-something? Unregulated market inevitably moves toward imperialism and slavery.

He's an Opus Dei Catholic, which is to say I wouldn't trust him on anything.

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MagicShel lemmy.zip MagicShel@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2024-10-14
#5 · Quote Reply

He's an Opus Dei Catholic, which is to say I wouldn't trust him on anything.

Opus Dei? Shit all this time I thought it was Oedipus Dei. I had a vastly different picture painted in my head.

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schipelblorp sh.itjust.works schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-05-16
#6 · Quote Reply

Opus Dei? Shit all this time I thought it was Oedipus Dei. I had a vastly different picture painted in my head.

Fantasies of killing Joseph to sleep with Mary?

You know, of all the weird porn I've run across, I don't think I've ever actually seen any Mary porn. Hm.

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MagicShel lemmy.zip MagicShel@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2024-10-14
#7 · Quote Reply

Fantasies of killing Joseph to sleep with Mary? You know, of all the weird porn I've run across, I don't think I've ever actually seen any Mary porn. Hm.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

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