The weight loss and nutrition company Jenny Craig is starting to drop some of their celebrity endorsers and is going to launch a new animated advertising campaign. I am ECSTATIC about this, and let me tell you why: I’m SO tired of seeing celebs, mostly women celebs at that, push ordinary people to change their lives on the basis that they did it themselves. If Carrie Fisher can do it, then so can I? Please! I mean, have you seen that Kardashian QuickTrim TV spot? It’s practically a soft-core porn!
KiKi, pls stahp!
The company, having had endorsements from superstars like Mariah Carey and Valerie Bertinelli, will be steering towards ads that focus more on the company’s food and one-on-one support than on the fact that celebs do it, too. As USA Today reports, Jenny Craig’s marketing chief, Leesa Eichberger, says that the celebrity “before and after” imagery won’t be as prevalent in its advertising as it was before. While the company isn’t completely losing the endorsements, they’ll be focusing more on the “delicious food, personal consultants and flexible options.”
Ace Metrix, a syndicated advertisement-testing agency, did a recent study of ads with and without celebrity endorsements. “We see in our data that on average, ads that have a celebrity in them do less well then ads that don’t,” says Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix. When talking about JC’s new campaign, Daboll says that it’s a “smart move” and has a shot at working.
As the daughter of a woman who briefly started Weight Watchers because Jennifer Hudson lost an amazing amount of weight on it, I think Jenny Craig is taking a bold and wise turn. (Not to say that Hudson doesn’t look awesome, because she totally does!) While using a celebrity endorsement may work as a marketing tactic, losing weight and being healthy shouldn’t always be tied to a star. The media places so much hype on celebrities who lose weight without emphasizing the importance of healthy eating and lifestyle changes. Consumers of this media see stars losing weight quickly and think, “They did it, so I can too!” If people want to lose weight and start a healthy lifestyle, it’ll work if they have the drive, and not if a rando celeb (like Jason Alexander, do y’all remember that?!) tells them to.
~*Neva 4get*~
If seeing Jessica Simpson or Marie Osmond helps you in the groove of losing weight, then that’s awesome! But an emphasis on celebrity body types isn’t going to convince consumers that Jenny Craig will work for them. Contemporary culture’s narrow focus on celeb weight loss is a little too much for me, and that is why I fully support Jenny Craig’s new advertising strategy. I get the same way about celebrity Proactive commercials, which are uber annoying (here’s lookin’ at you, JBiebs).
Take a look at The Today Show’s coverage of JC’s new technique below, and let us know what you think about the campaign!
Writer’s Note: I’m sorry if this blog post happened to offend any BUST readers out there. This post is not promoting weight-loss in any fashion. I just wanted to comment on the marketing tactic of steering away from celebrity endorsements that Jenny Craig will be using in the near future. Once again, I’m truly sorry if I upset any of our devoted readers.
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