In January of 2015 Weight Watchers Senior Vice President Deb Benovitz was shocked at the amount of sign ups and member recruitment, and not in a good way. Something had changed in the minds of consumers. Normally the New Year always brought in new recruits with aspiring resolutions. Something about the consumer had changed, and Weight Watchers along with many other old fashioned diet companies wanted to know why. Benovitz hit the streets, and traveled the country interviewing past, current, and possible members to learn more about the consumers.
Benovitz had learned that no one wanted to talk about “weight loss” or “dieting”. The consumer now wanted to become more “healthy” so that they would eventually become “fit”. Or “eat clean” to become “strong”. Even though people still wanted to lose weight and become more thin, they had changed the verbiage. “Diet” and “fat” are two words that were now shameful.
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The change was a slow and steady, while also raising alarm to the effects of dieting. Weight Watchers’ own research proved the average weight loss in any behavior-modification program is about a 5 percent reduction of body weight after six months. Then a return of a third of the weight lost after two years. There were studies that appeared to indicate that the constant cycle of weight loss and weight gain could lead to long-term damage to the metabolism.
To keep up with this change many companies were modifying their business platform all around. Not just marketing but the entire structure. Weight Watchers even hired their first psychologist, to help with the re-branding of their lifestyle plan instead of just a diet. Now, this new behavior modification program steered clear of words and phrases that fell under the new category of “fat shaming”. In conclusion, recent years have promoted being confident about who you are and your unique body. But, to avoid adding to the risk of Diabetes and heart disease along with many other side effects caused by being over weight, or unhealthy.
Curated article from The Guardian.
