# Shake Weight

> Shake Weight passed 4.5 million units in reported sales as comedians parodied its ad.

- Owner: FitnessIQ
- Kind: Product
- Sector: Health & fitness
- Seed date: Jul 2009
- Milestone date: 2011-12-13
- Date basis: Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.
- Spread Score: 44 (Notable, provisional), v1.3
- Mechanics: Response chain, Visible in use, Controversy, Platform jump, Press loop

## Summary

FitnessIQ launched a TV infomercial. Bloggers and comedy shows reused its exercise motion. SELF reported sales above 4.5 million units; independent tests questioned the workout claims.

## Timeline

- Jul 2009 — FitnessIQ (TV) — FitnessIQ released Shake Weight for women with an infomercial demonstrating its shaking motion.
- 2009-07-30 — JJSKCK (Open web) — JJS in KCK embedded the infomercial in a blog post joking about its exercise claims and sexual imagery.
- Sep 2009 — The Ellen DeGeneres Show (TV) — Ellen introduced her audience to Shake Weight in a segment later dated September by her official channel.

The full timeline, metrics and sources are on the case page, or via the Pro API (https://howitspread.com/developers).

Canonical URL: https://howitspread.com/cases/shake-weight

Cite as: How It Spread (2026). “Shake Weight.” Case HIS-01589. Spread Score v1.3: 44/100. Updated 2026-10-23. https://howitspread.com/id/HIS-01589