Jenny Craig
ByUnder the new FTC ruleing, testimonials must clearly disclose the resuts which consumers can generally expect to see. This effects advertisements in a tremendous way. No longer can companies boast about exceptional, but rare, results. Now brands are required to clearly tell consumers what they can generally expect to find.
This is clear in Jenny Craig’s latest ad campaign featuring Sara Rue. Consumers have grown wary of constantly hearing ads claiming that their product can make you lose 40 pounds FAST. Now, rather than seeing the extreme cases, we are given more typical cases.
I was caught off gaurd when I first saw Jenny Craig’s ad where Rue exclaimed, “I’ve already lost 5 pounds!” Five pounds? Seriously, big deal. But then I remembered the new FTC ruling and it all clicked. This is the direction all weight loss advertisements are going to head as companies begin to catch on.
However, are these ads even effective? Why waste millions of dollars on a TV campaign ‘bragging’ of 5 pounds of weight loss. Seems like a poor use of ad dollars to me.
To see the advertisment:
http://jennycraig.com/?dfa=1#
And click ‘See Sara’s new commercial’
4 Comments
March 1st, 2010 at 12:04 pm
I see your point with wondering how effective these new ads will be. 5 pounds doesn’t seem like much, certainly not enough to catch a viewer’s attention. However, I am so pleased to see that there is now a responsibility to show realistic results, because as many diet tricks that are out there, anyone who knows about staying healthy will tell you diet, exercise, and time are the only ways to lose weight and keep it off. We have seen how programs like Jenny Craig can work and then how easily they can fail (remember how thin Kristy Alley was in the commercials…well, Google-image her now). I think its great Jenny Craig is being more responsible and although people may not initially be drawn in by only a 5-pound weight lost, they may decide to use Jenny Craig because it will help them lose weight AND keep it off. It seems to me that they are now focusing on promoting a healthier lifestyle than just raving about amazing results. Great post, Liz!
March 1st, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I think it’s great that they are finally being honest about how much weight is actually lost. I never believed the before/after pictures of people who had supposedly lost around 40 pounds in 2 weeks. I mean, really? At the same time, it doesn’t seem very effective to say that she’s lost 5 pounds even though that is a significant amount and the truth. I guess it makes me wonder if puffery really does work sometimes. As the viewer, you know that the commercial is not exactly true and yet you are often still anxious to try the product. I think these programs are more effective when they are tied to celebrity names however. Recently, I know Valerie Bertinelli was the spokeswoman for Jenny Craig and I remember seeing her on the cover of People magazine and other magazines as well. She had great success with the program and I believed her commercials because I read her story and saw the gradual success she was making. I agree with Elizabeth though in the fact that it’s great that Jenny Craig is pushing to promote living healthier lifestyles and keeping the weight off rather than just promoting instant weight loss.
March 1st, 2010 at 1:30 pm
I agree, I think that it is importance to influence people to lose weight in a realistic manner. Jenny Craig has always been advertising and it probably wouldn’t help them if they stopped because of the regulations. It is important to notice that it is still helping many people and using role models to help one’s health and to loose weight. A simple before and after are motivations are people. It reminds me of the Biggest Lost on NBC. It is the images and the effort of the people that will get people motivated, not necessarily the number of pounds.
March 4th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
I see your point with how effective weight loss advertisements will be under the new FTC ruling. Yet I think it is great, and so worth it. In my opinion people are so misguided by diet ads when they try the products and don’t see any significant change in their weight that this insecurity actually leads to weight gain. If people aren’t seeing the results their confidence decreases as does their motivation to work out and eat healthier. Therefore, many advertisements for weight loss products have an unfortunate, adverse effect and it is important to put an end to the false promises these ads make to consumers. Yes, five pounds does not seem like much, but to the person who is desperate enough to lose those five pounds, it is significant enough to make a difference. Once they lose those five pounds their confidence will increase and they will do more to assure that they do not gain it back, and who knows perhaps weight loss programs will see a change in sales. If they quit lying to people about how much weight they use then the people who are willing to buy a product just to lose five pounds may also be more willing to continue buying that product, instead of those who expect to lose 40 pounds, don’t, then drop the product and tell all their friends about how terrible the product was (negative word-of-mouth marketing).