 FACT: 75% of annual weight gain occurs between Halloween and Valentine's Day. This was the sign I passed alongside the gym entrance last night. Thanks Washington Sports Club, I needed that extra kick. There's nothing like the threat of unwanted poundage to really notch up the speed on the old treadmill. But hey, if you do find yourself resembling more of a pumpkin silhouette than a broomstick this year, fear not. Weight Watchers is a well-known diet plan based on a points system. Foods are allocated a certain point value. Each person is assigned a daily point allowance based on his or her weight and weight loss goals. Weight Watchers has been around since the 1960’s. However, that’s kind of a miracle considering their most recent ads for Weight Watchers for Men. This week’s brand-of-the-week goes to Weight Watchers Men for bad-brand-of-the-week. Weight Watchers for Men fails big for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I am willing to bet some green that when most people think Weight Watchers they think women. Some may say this is because women are more frequent dieters. Weight Watchers seems to have been unsuccessful in effectively marketing to the male population. Weight Watcher’s “Real Men Don’t Diet” motto is doing nothing to change this. I would bet a triple chocolate brownie that there isn’t a single man out there okay with being told he’s not a real man! Weight Watchers’ general tagline “Stop Dieting, Start Living,” does a good job of positioning themselves as the “un-diet” without being offensive. “Real Men Don’t Diet” is just emasculating to those men enrolled in one of their programs. Wait. It gets better. Another one of Weight Watcher’s new tags touts, “Eat like a man, not like a rabbit,” one of the least clever things I have ever heard. And speaking of unoriginal, the whole “Eat like a man,” saying is strongly resemblant to diet competitor Nutrisystem's “Mmm…man food” flavored standpoint. Although Weight Watchers for Men ads were created to entice big-boned dudes, the campaign managed to degrade the very demographic that they were trying to reach. If the diet company wants to target men they would be better off just using their existing campaign, “Stop Dieting. Start Living,” that resonates with many folks. Or they could just re-brand Weight Watchers for Men using anything but their current jargon. At least that rings true to the “un-diet” positioning without being offensive. |
