Oh no they didn't: 6-Week Body Makeover needs to nix "problem area sketches"
I've been watching more of HSN and QVC to get ideas for a product line I'm developing. On HSN the other night, I happened to come on during the pitch for Michael Thurmond's 6-Week Body Makeover DVD Kit with Cookbook. I stay tuned because I know many readers here have used this program to drop weight. Everything looked fine until this horror...
Oh my goodness! They started showing the "success" stories with their "before" photos all sketched up with the problem areas like they do at a plastic surgeon's consultation. I was horrified! Worse, there's the video product demo on the HSN website where you can see this stuff all the time, for crying out loud!
Showing before and after photos is fine, whatever. But, to take the before photo and then highlight all the problem fat areas where the 6-Week Body Makeover program can help you skinnify was just way tacky in my book. It reminded me of the Effed-up ad Leslie at iVillage wrote about where Equinox gym did something similar with their models. [pic of Equinox ad]
I don't know which advertising is worse, sketching up the non-existent problem areas of already perfect looking people with the tagline "Happily Ever After" or the 6-Week Body Makeover where they take "real" people with real problems with extra pounds and sketch them up like a cow with the meat cut areas.
I realize that the marketing of weight loss products is highly competitive, but companies, come on! It is possible to use uplifting messages and images to sell your products that do not require dehumanizing tactics. Get creative! What do you all think?
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Oh no they didn't: 6-Week Body Makeover needs to nix "problem area sketches"
I've been watching more of HSN and QVC to get ideas for a product line I'm developing. On HSN the other night, I happened to come on during the pitch for Michael Thurmond's 6-Week Body Makeover DVD Kit with Cookbook. I stay tuned because I know many readers here have used this program to drop weight. Everything looked fine until this horror...
Oh my goodness! They started showing the "success" stories with their "before" photos all sketched up with the problem areas like they do at a plastic surgeon's consultation. I was horrified! Worse, there's the video product demo on the HSN website where you can see this stuff all the time, for crying out loud!
Showing before and after photos is fine, whatever. But, to take the before photo and then highlight all the problem fat areas where the 6-Week Body Makeover program can help you skinnify was just way tacky in my book. It reminded me of the Effed-up ad Leslie at iVillage wrote about where Equinox gym did something similar with their models. [pic of Equinox ad]
I don't know which advertising is worse, sketching up the non-existent problem areas of already perfect looking people with the tagline "Happily Ever After" or the 6-Week Body Makeover where they take "real" people with real problems with extra pounds and sketch them up like a cow with the meat cut areas.
I realize that the marketing of weight loss products is highly competitive, but companies, come on! It is possible to use uplifting messages and images to sell your products that do not require dehumanizing tactics. Get creative! What do you all think?
I've been watching more of HSN and QVC to get ideas for a product line I'm developing. On HSN the other night, I happened to come on during the pitch for Michael Thurmond's 6-Week Body Makeover DVD Kit with Cookbook. I stay tuned because I know many readers here have used this program to drop weight. Everything looked fine until this horror...
Showing before and after photos is fine, whatever. But, to take the before photo and then highlight all the problem fat areas where the 6-Week Body Makeover program can help you skinnify was just way tacky in my book. It reminded me of the Effed-up ad Leslie at iVillage wrote about where Equinox gym did something similar with their models. [pic of Equinox ad]
I don't know which advertising is worse, sketching up the non-existent problem areas of already perfect looking people with the tagline "Happily Ever After" or the 6-Week Body Makeover where they take "real" people with real problems with extra pounds and sketch them up like a cow with the meat cut areas.
I realize that the marketing of weight loss products is highly competitive, but companies, come on! It is possible to use uplifting messages and images to sell your products that do not require dehumanizing tactics. Get creative! What do you all think?
Posted by Stephanie Quilao on Jan 30, 2008 in Skinny commentary & news | Permalink
Tags: 6 week body makeover, ads, diet, HSN, michael Thurmond, weight loss
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