Many thanks to Gina for this guest post, sorry it didn't go up yesterday, that was my fault.
In the UK Weightwatchers advertises under the slogan “Where no food is a sin” and apparently ladies and gentlemen that includes Macca’s.
I don’t know about you guys but when I go into Macca’s I'm not looking to make healthy choices. Macca’s is my comfort food. When I go there I order a Big Mac Combo, a 6 pack of nuggets with sweet and sour sauce and a chocolate sundae. And I bet Macca’s are counting on weightwatchers customers to come in... and be led by temptation. If I was actually on a weight management programme walking into Macca’s would be like an alcoholic going into a liquor store to buy a diet coke.
And vice versa- walking into Macca’s is not going to make me sign up to a weight loss programme. My conclusion: This is one bum marketing ploy.
Here’s the link for the coverage on this one.
What do you think?
4 comments:
And I bet Macca’s are counting on weightwatchers customers to come in... and be led by temptation.
Why?
McDonalds don't price their low-fat foods more cheaply than their high-fat ones. They want you to give them their money, not to gain or keep weight. They don't care whether they get it from selling you weightwatchers-approved food, non-weightwatchers approved food or just from you throwing it at their staff and running out, as long as they get paid.
I like to think I'm under no illusions here, but I don't think I'd go so far as to say that McDonalds are trying to sabotage people's weight loss, simply because I can't see them making any money out of doing so. Instead, they're trying to branch out into a market area that they usully underperform in - people concerned about their weight.
That being said, as somebody who also calorie counts, I would be quite wary of entering a McDonalds for the reasons you note above. Perhaps McDonalds' best approach would be to convert some of their stores to 'Healthy McDonalds' or whatever, which only serve the weight watchers stuff? Of course, I don't know if that would be profitable for them...
I'm more worried about the insipid stereotypes and fat shaming from our supposed healthy outlets. Two that come to mind that I've seen just in the last 24 hours:
Number One, Reading the March "Healthy Food Guide" magazine, and in the description of family health plans there's the line "The health plans are designed for a family of mum, dad, 16 year old boy, and 14 year old girl. Portions are bigger for the growing teenage boy but the [i]mother eats significantly smaller portions, even smaller than the teenage daughter[/i]"
Emphasis mine. Bullshit societal programming - you MUST give more to the men, and as a woman (mum or daughter) you should eat less to be OMGNOTFAT anyway. Arrgggh.
Number Two, poster advertising Contours gym in the mall, with obligatory Before and After photos of a woman (because it's a women's gym). The before photo is not even fat, and actually looks pretty slim to me, but she's "puffed out" with a baggy shirt. The After photo, the baggy shirt has been turned into a crop top and she is ripped to hell. Absolute fat shaming FAIL.
So yeah, I'm more tempted to point out the everyday fail bullshit like that than jump on the Macca Smacka wagon.
Sorry not "family health plans" but "family eating plans", was typing too quick
McDonalds has done more than any other multinational to address the social ills we have today. Where else do you see the sorts of internal and external changes from anything remotely close to their size.
WW is all about moderation, just like McD's. WW is also about exercise. You could eat a cheese burger every day and lose weight, but McDs would never say that, or WW.
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