Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Yeah, I Don't Know About This

Queen Latifah is the new Jenny Craig spokesperson.

I...what?

1) When I think of the words "gorgeous" and "glamorous," Queen Latifah is one of the first women who comes to mind.

2) Jenny Craig is one of the programs that require you to buy their food. That has never made sense to me.

In both the linked article, and her TV spot, "...a healthier lifestyle, not on getting onto a specific dress size" are the focus.

Call me cynical, but that's no better than Weight Watchers' "Diets are Mean" ad campaign. You can spin it all you want, but it's still a diet! (And one that worked very well for myself, my mother, and many of my closest friends. I want to emphasize that, because I realize I've come across as very anti-WW lately, and I need to fix that.)

Seriously, though. If Queen Latifah wanted to raise awareness for diabetes or "a healthier lifestyle," I feel like there are better channels through which to work. Even Weight Watchers, if associating herself with a weight loss program was her aim. That being said, I can understand feeling that this would be a more accessible conduit for her message. If that was her reasoning, then excellent. If not? I'd be very, very surprised.

2 comments:

justpeachie said...

I feel like "Diet" has 2 meanings these days: the original, probably dictionary definition is basically "the food you eat." The crazy Americans are too fat, fix it now definition is "completely changing the types of food you eat and how often, but only for a short period of time, in order to lose weight which you will inevitably gain back if you go back to your old habits aka your old diet!!"


Call me an animal professional... but DIET simply means the items that make up the range of an animal's daily intake. If your puppy is sick, they go on a "bland diet" aka boiled rice & chicken - low fat, easily digestible and palatable foods. In a zoo, you'll see tags (if you work there) that say: Diet consists of fruits, berries, nuts, insects.

In the world of celeb style though - diets are temporary fixes. I do like the Weight Watchers ads a lot. Diets in the new sense are mean. But changing your "diet" so that "high fat foods and lots of candy" aren't part of your list of typical selections makes sense. And it doesn't have to be hard either - a "Diet" in the real sense is the foods eaten most often. That does not mean the animals or people don't occasionally eat other things as treats!

That was long and circular, but maybe I made a point. haha

justpeachie said...

FYI that comment was from me :)