Obesity is the result of laziness in this day and age. When eating sounds much more pleasant than going for a run, people are going to take the easy way out. It’s not that we don’t realize the benefits of hard work-there just need an influence strong enough to pull us out of our comfort zones. This is the target demographic weight loss programs have decided to aim their services towards. With so many of them to choose from, how is each program going to distinguish itself from the rest? A rising trend in this market is to feature a celebrity endorser.
Jennifer Hudson, singer and Academy Award-winning actress, had always overweight since being in the public eye. Since being a spokeswoman of Weight Watchers and transforming her body, she promises “guaranteed” results and that “you will never ever go away from it” because it will become so much a part of your lifestyle [1]. We as entertainment consumers indulge and admire these flawless figures because we love to watch their every move in media. Hudson is using her relateable struggle of losing weight with our fascination with the idea of “celebrity”. Because we are more interested in the ongoings of media, we will “attribute[s] much greater authority and weight to a testimonial that’s given by someone who’s famous’” [2].
We have to remember that while these idols are losing weight and looking great, they have the incentive of being paid to endorse these products. There is also the fact that they had a lot of extra help during their journey, given the industry they are in [3]. We must take care to choose a method of being healthy based on individual needs and a lot of hard work. There is no guarantee that you will succeed based on the success of your beloved stars.
By Olivia Quan
[1] Weightwatchers http://www.weightwatchers.ca/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=40241
[2] CBC http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/pre-2007/files/health/bernstein_diet/index.html
