My initial reaction was who cares, but the Globe thinks it is a big deal:
"Salesman Brown pursues a weight-loss constituency" by Stephanie Ebbert Globe Staff July 02, 2015
It was not the sight of their former senator bare-chested that shocked Scott Brown’s Facebook followers.
They were used to that.
It was the sales pitch accompanying the before-and-after photos of his physique, crediting his recent, dramatic weight loss to a commercial nutrition and fitness plan.
Brown’s testament to the merits of AdvoCare’s “24-day challenge” was met with so many guffaws that within two hours, he posted another note, saying he is not a paid spokesman for the supplement company.
What he didn’t explain is that he’s a salesman.
On Thursday, an AdvoCare spokeswoman confirmed that the former US senator is one of the company’s 580,000 independent distributors. Another reporter, writing for The Daily Beast, tried to contact Brown about his involvement and received a sales pitch in reply; she could save 20 to 40 percent off AdvoCare products if she, too, became a distributor, Brown told her.
Brown did not respond to requests for comment. But there was plenty of reaction from political observers. Suffice it to say, there hasn’t been this much intrigue about Brown’s online activity since he blamed his pocket for an errant tweet in 2013. (“Bqhatevwr.”)
His Facebook post last week on his weight loss success was “liked” by 1,718 people and shared by 192, congratulated by many, and greeted cynically or with outright denial by some.
Loyalists asserted Brown was merely spreading the word about a product that had helped him get in shape — what was wrong with promoting fitness? some asked — while others attacked him for trying to sell “snake oil” and suggested he eat organic instead.
When he lost his Senate seat to Elizabeth Warren in 2013, Brown got back on a more traditional path for politicians: He returned to work as a lawyer for a high-powered Boston firm, got paid for speaking engagements, and set his sights on his next political conquest. He even got a gig as a contributor to Fox News, earning him $136,000 between campaigns.
But this latest gambit, which follows his move to New Hampshire and his unsuccessful 2014 bid for Senate, is seen by some as unbearably unglamorous, even for a guy who appealed to voters as an Everyman.
Should have stayed here and ran against Markey.
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Plenty of politicians before Brown have lent their famous names to commercial advertisements, Scala noted.
Bob Dole promoted Viagra.
Really got it up, did he?
Fred Thompson, the former US senator, presidential candidate, and actor, advertised reverse mortgages for American Advisors Group.
I've seen those ads.
Former speaker of the House Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill appeared in a Miller Lite TV ad and stepped out of a suitcase on spots for Quality Inns hotels.
And former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has shown that a candidate’s commercial involvement doesn’t preclude a return to politics, Scala noted. Huckabee is running for president again, after hawking his “Diabetes Solution Kit.”
Awwww, Hucks!
“The line,” Scala said, “can get a little blurry.”
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I see what he means.
I'm going to be cutting back on crap like that. Sorry.
Related: Doctors Getting Fat on Diets
NDU: House overwhelmingly passes bill to speed FDA drug approvals
How do you like the hor$e trading on your health?
Also see: FDA delays deadline for calorie count on menus
Related: Breakfast in Brockton
That is for tomorrow. Maybe this will help wa$h it down.
