14 - Latifah and Jenny: An Awkward Union

Whether it's an eating regimen, a magic pill, or an exercise machine, companies selling weight loss products tend to feature the users with the least typical results. In fact, that's one of the most smirk-worthy features of every weight loss ad—the tiny white print on the bottom of the TV screen: "Results not typical." From the 50 year old grandmother strutting around bikini-clad in old Bowflex commercials to Kirsty Alley's amazing (though disputed) shedding of 70 lbs, none of these people are an accurate representation of what will likely happen if you try this product. People desperate to lose weight fail to think through the fact that for any 50 year old woman to look that good, she's either got amazing genes or an amazing plastic surgeon...in addition to her Bowflex. I would hope that new users of the Jenny Craig program would pay attention to the fact that Valerie Bertinelli's JC blog is littered with asterisks indicating that her results aren't typical. In fact, all weight loss numbers shown on the JC site are listed as "not typical" because what's typical is that you'll lose and gain the same five to ten pounds for four months and then you'll quit the program no slimmer and a bit poorer. What it amounts to is false advertising, but what else is new?

However, if we want to talk about typical and atypical in the realm of people who actually lose weight and keep it off, most of us don't look like runway models when we're done with a weight loss program. Most people lose their weight and look like the typical size 12-14 woman that is the majority in North America; not the size 0-4 woman who entirely populates TV land. The former is about reality and the latter is about wish fulfillment. People don't pay good money for a product to produce reality in their lives; they pay for the fantasy. And that's why it's effective to show all the women who got down to size 4 (from a 12) in the NutriSystem commercials, or the incredible shrinking waistline of Valerie Bertinelli in the Jenny Craig spots.

It's this weight loss advertising reality that makes Jenny Craig's campaign featuring Queen Latifah really interesting. Admittedly, when I first saw the Queen in the Jenny ads I was dismayed. I was dismayed by the "urban" setting of her first ad, just to ensure that we know she's still "street" or whatever they were trying to convey. It bugged the hell out of me that the fan base that Queen Latifah first appealed to, the fan base that made her famous, probably can't afford to use the program. However, my objections to her role in the campaign aside, I have to be impressed with the tack they've taken: someone who's results actually appear attainable or even typical being featured on TV. Someone who is considered a success story who still happens to look like the rest of us. On her JC blog, Queen Latifah notes that she's lost 20lbs and her cholesterol has gone down 20 points. While the "cover our asses" asterisks also appear next to her results, deeming them atypical, from where I'm standing losing 20lbs is a lot more attainable than 40 or 70lbs—in fact I'd consider it almost typical.

One of Queen Latifah's JC ads has her grooving away on a treadmill talking about how much she loves feeling healthy. In fact, in all of her ads she is shown mostly speaking to "feeling good" or being a "size healthy." The amount of weight she's lost is referred to but unlike the ads featuring Bertinelli (the other Jenny Craig celeb spokesperson on the go at the moment) there are no before/after shots. In her blog she says that she thinks her body was fine the way it was and is fine now, but she's using the program to improve her health. What becomes clear very quickly is that the ad campaign featuring Latifah is not about wish fulfillment.

I would venture to say that this is the reason that Queen Latifah's blog comes up in a new window when you click on her name on jennycraig.com. I believe this is about reeling in a new, but smaller, group of clientele. The client who isn't interested in a dramatic weight loss (or isn't willing to admit that's their interest anyway). The client who has probably dieted so many times before that they are simply looking for a healthier lifestyle. The client who isn't willing to be openly disparaging about her body as it is. Typical Jenny Craig is about atypical results in order to sell the product. The Queen is about appealing to the consumer who thinks they're smarter than that. We're all getting duped but some get to walk away thinking they're above our weight obsessed society. At the end of the day though, it's Valerie Bertinelli's blog that's emblazoned all over jennycraig.com—not Queen Latifah's. Clearly featuring a woman who's lost weight, but still sort of looks like everyone else, remains a risky business.