THE “SUPPLEMENT GENIUS” SCOTT WELCH SHOW HIS TRUE CHARACTER 

By Steve Colescott

It takes a lot to really tick me off but this guy Scott Welch, the self-proclaimed "Supplement Genius" who is the publisher of the "Muscle Insider" mag seems to really be doing that. In addition to presenting himself with a douchebag nickname, he blatantly rips off my ideas (and OLD ones at that).

I know I should ignore it, but the very principle grates me.

About a year ago when his existence was originally shat upon the industry, he did a “send your name and address for a free issue” promotion when he launched his magazine. Like at least twenty other people, I entered my info in an online form to get a sample issue and was surprised to get a personal response from Scott Welch a day later. In it, he slobbered all over me and said that my old magazine Peak Training Journal was the best magazine he had ever read and he based his new mag on what I did (a decade ago) with a sprinkle of old Muscle Media thrown in.

Now, I am always surprised if someone recognizes my name so that was a nice thing, but it seemed REALLY pathetic to have someone, when starting a new business, be so lame that they admit they need to mimic someone else, especially to do so TO that person. I don’t really know his background but I believe (feel free to correct me) that he is a marketing guy. It is quite obvious that he is not a journalist in any meaningful sense of the word.

In Welch’s e-mail he requested all of the back issues of my magazine. He says that he had all of them at one point but now can only find a couple of them. Now, Welch sending me an issue of his magazine is a business expense used to market a new venture. But me spending twelve to twenty bucks to send him a stack of issues of a magazine I did a decade ago is not really worth my time. One doesn’t need to be a Supplement Genius to figure that out. I told him most of those old issues were recycled and the rest were pack three boxes deep in storage (both true) and it would be unlikely he would be seeing those. Not too surprisingly, he never sent me the offered free issue of his… for which I am now glad, since I don’t really want to ever see it.

As many of you know, the Supplement Genius markets heavily on Facebook… mostly fluff directed at teenage bodybuilding wannabes and basically a lot of reposts of Anthony Roberts’ stories and other people’s YouTube clips. Whatever it take, I guess.

It is his heavily-hyped post on February 17^th that REALLY pissed me off. The post is a parody of the old Charles Atlas ad. Here’s the link.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?id=478983560369&aid=622681

I have included a screen capture of his page when he posted that, as I suspect he will remove this, once this article is posted. Unfortunately, it is less of a parody of the classic Charles Atlas ad as it as a steal of an ad I ran on the back cover of the fourth issue of my magazine about eleven years ago (scan attached, along with the original).

The theft is so obvious, it is disgusting. Given, I was not the first to spoof a Charles Atlas ad, but at least mine was a spoof of the original ad. “Supplement Genius” Scott Welch is obviously not a Creative Genius, since his parody is more similar to mine than it is to the original. In fact, he stole entire lines of ad copy from my ad to use in his marketing efforts (which is obvious when you compare the three).

For instance, in the second frame his bully uses my line, “I’d crack your ribcage like a walnut…” (ribcage cracking and walnuts were not mentioned in the original Charles Atlas ad). In the following frame he adds the twist of the girl commenting that the guy didn’t have a chance with the girl anyway (based on my version again).

Most obnoxious, Welch showed either the biggest balls on the planet or the most inept cognitive functions I have ever witnessed when he completely swiped the line in the third frame: “Scott Welch really cut through the B.S. for me.” Is obviously stolen from the line, “Those guys at Peak really cut through the B.S. for me.” Of course, his ego made it all about him. Cutting through B.S. would seem impossible if you are the one spreading it, don’t you think, Scott? (By the way, Jerry Beck did the great art on my version of the ad, and did an amazing job as always). 

And this one is no better... 

Having an idiot use my ideas (and not even one of my better ones) for his own needs, while acting like a “creative genius,” has my blood pressure boiling. This is not just a theft of my work, it is an insult to his “fans” and readers as he is passing off something to them that he is claiming was his own.

Ohhh yeah… one more thing. Remember when I said Scott Welch said he only had a couple of my old issues? Guess which one he had? That’s right — issue #4 in which my Charles Atlas parody ad was on the back cover. Here is a picture copied off of the Muscle Insider website of my old Managing Editor Robert Fortney when he was added as a Muscle Insider columnist. Scott had him autograph that issue of Peak for him! Compare the three comic strips and see for yourself. Scumbaggery at its most blatant! 

And finally, here is the original Charles Atlas ad. When you see all three it ALL becomes obvious: