ICON Health & Fitness, Inc. and its related entities have agreed to pay $3 million in civil penalties to settle FTC charges that the companies violated the Commission's 1997 consent order by advertising that use of their exercise equipment for just three minutes a day would result in significant weight loss. The 1997 administrative order against ICON Health & Fitness, Inc. (ICON) prohibited the marketers from making unsubstantiated claims for weight-loss exercise equipment and required that an endorser's claim reflect a typical user's experience or be accompanied by a clear and prominent disclosure. According to the FTC's current complaint, since at least August 2010 and through June 2013, ICON ran several types of advertisements making weight-loss claims for the ab GLIDER.

The ads included video infomercials on television, ICON's website, and social media networks. The advertisements, featuring television personality Elisabeth Hasselbeck and multiple consumer endorsers, claimed that using the ab GLIDER alone or using the ab Glider for only three minutes a day would lead to lost pounds, inches, or clothing sizes. The FTC complaint states that consumers achieved these results by being on a controlled diet, using the ab Glider for more than three minutes a day, and engaging in additional exercise.

Because ICON cannot substantiate the claimed results were solely from ab Glider use or use for only 3 minutes a day, the FTC charged it with violating the 1997 order.