ABC's OF METABOLIFE

October 19, 1999
		As ABC News prepared a report on a popular diet pill Metabolife, the company launched an Internet public relations campaign before the segment even aired. The president of ABC News and the founder of Metabolife discuss the campaign following this report. Also, read an online report on the use of the Internet as a public relations tool. The NewsHour Media Unit is funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Oct. 19, 1999: Online Report A look at Metabolife's use of the Internet in public relations Oct. 19, 1999 The ABC's of Metabolife. Sept. 30, 1999: A new satellite provides ultra-detailed images of Earth. Sept. 24, 1999: A look at violence in the media. Sept. 9, 1999: The 20th anniversary of ESPN Aug. 23, 1999: Diversity in the newsroom May 4, 1999: NATO bombs Serbian television off the air. April 6, 1999: The Pentagon release little information during the Serbian air strikes. Browse the NewsHour's coverage of the media     ABC News Metabolife International	BARBARA WALTERS: Tonight we have the report that is causing all kinds of talk: Arnold Diaz's four-month investigation into the diet herbal supplement called Metabolife. TERENCE SMITH: Last Friday ABC 20/20 presented an investigation of one of the nation's fastest-selling diet pills, Metabolife 356. The report was the result of four months of research by ABC, but in some ways it wasn't new news. Ten days earlier the company, Metabolife International, attempted to preempt ABC by taking the unprecedented step of posting the network's interview with its top officials on the Internet.
	Releasing the interview on the Web
	TERENCE SMITH: 20/20 correspondent Arnold Diaz had interviewed Metabolife CEO Michael Ellis in front of Metabolife employees on September 9 . Diaz allowed the company to make their own videotape. But Ellis says the interview still felt to him like a deposition. He decided to release the whole 70-minute session on the Web in advance of the 20/20 piece. In a $1.5 million ad campaign, Metabolife invited the public to "see the complete, unedited footage" at newsinterview Web site, a Web site the company specifically created for this purpose. The company also cautioned that "the 20/20 story may not report the facts accurately" on the safety of Metabolife 356. AD: Tonight 20/20 is airing a segment on Metabolife... TERENCE SMITH: The manufacturer ratcheted up the battle for public opinion by buying a $200,000 advertising spot on 20/20 shortly before the Diaz piece appeared. AD: Cast your vote on whether you think the 20/20 report was fair. TERENCE SMITH: ABC did raise questions about the safety of the Metabolife pill, citing medical sources and at least one instance in which a woman suffered adverse consequences that she attributed to her use of Metabolife 356. AD: Can I help you? MAN IN AD: Oh, no, no - AD SPOKESMAN: For most of us it's hard to admit we're not a size 32-waist anymore. TERENCE SMITH: The product is one of a multitude of diet supplements and energy boosters on which Americans spend some $33 billion a year. Four-year-old Metabolife is expected to gross over $900 million this year with its flagship product, which sells for at least $45-a-bottle. That success has attracted extra scrutiny from the press. CEO Michael Ellis has not been shy about defending the pill -- or himself. Ellis was convicted nine years ago on a drug-related charge but managed to have his criminal file sealed. Earlier this year those documents were unsealed at the request of journalists, including the San Diego Union-Tribune and ABC. Separately, Metabolife sued an ABC-affiliated television station in Boston for defamation in its Metabolife investigation. On 20/20, Ellis was asked about his conviction. MICHAEL ELLIS: That's something I'm not proud of. I think that happening to me is a nightmare of my life.
	"In-your-face" public relations
	TERENCE SMITH: Altogether, 20/20 used just over a minute of direct quotations from Ellis and his medical director in the fourteen-minute report. In one exchange Diaz displayed printouts of Metabolife's Web site and asserted that the company was misleading consumers about safety tests. ARNOLD DIAZ: It's also on the Metabolife main Web site. MICHAEL ELLIS: It is not on the Metabolife Web page. ARNOLD DIAZ: It is not? MICHAEL ELLIS: No it is not, sir. ARNOLD DIAZ: Oh, yes it is. We showed him the page. ARNOLD DIAZ: This is directly from your Web site. TERENCE SMITH: The whole exchange between the company and the network is the most dramatic example to date of in-your-face corporate public relations wars with broadcasters. It also demonstrates the increasing use of the Internet as a weapon in those battles. Nor is it likely to be the last such instance. Mr. Ellis told the NewsHour that many industry groups have already contacted him about using the newsinterview Web site site to disseminate information online.

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