Fat chance. That is effectively what a Weight Watchers lawsuit asserts about Jenny Craig’s recent advertising claims. In its latest commercials Jenny Craig makes reference to “a study comparing Weight Watchers current weight-loss program and Jenny Craig's pre-packaged meals system.” Weight Watchers argues that no study exists.
What’s that? A company is stretching the truth in its advertising? I am shocked, shocked to find that corporations deceive consumers in their marketing campaigns.
"’It is outrageous that Jenny Craig is trying to trick and fool consumers through this blatantly misleading advertising campaign, which makes clearly false and unsupported claims,” said David Kirchhoff, President and CEO of Weight Watchers.
If Jenny Craig’s commercials are fictitious you cannot blame Weight Watchers for objecting to them; yet, I don’t think it is wise to waste much time and energy on the issue. After all, do any consumers still believe the information peddled by advertisers? I assume there is a tacit “Buyer Beware” agreement between merchants and consumers, so I believe virtually nothing I see on commercials. However, I guess there are others who are more gullible.
Perhaps the two weight-loss system heavyweights can settle this out of court. Otherwise, a judge will decide who is the “Biggest Loser”.
Yeah, that was awful. I know.
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Need a PR Specialist? Perhaps my 13 years of PR experience can satisfy those needs. I have publicized world champions such as Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield, and mega-events like Lewis-Tyson and De la Hoya-Vargas. Contact Donald Tremblay (The Rain Maker) at 718-664-3405 or at dtremblay@earthlink.net. For more info about me visit my LinkedIn Profile.
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marketing. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Global Warming Hype
The global warming community has orchestrated the most successful marketing blitz that I have seen in years. Not since Chicken Little have so many feared that the sky is falling. But are we dangerously close to causing our own destruction or is this simply global warming hype?
I am not a climatologist, a geologist, or any other “ologist”, so my knowledge of the subject is limited. What interests me are not the scientific facts, but the scientists themselves who reject the very idea of global warming and who even go so far as to mock the concept. Some of these naysayers have been ostracized by their peers; some have even been blackballed by the scientific community. Professor Ian Pilmer of Adelaide University is among these skeptics. In fact, he has been labeled the global warming ‘denialist poster boy’. In Thursday’s edition of The Telegraph, Pilmer argues that global warming is not caused by CO2 and that the major producer of CO2 is volcanoes, not Man. He also adds that “we have had huge climate change in the past and to think the very slight variations we measure today are the result of our life - we really have to put ice blocks in our drinks.’"
So why then are so many scientists falling in step with the global warming party line? Research funding.
“’In previous times people got wonderful research grants in a war against cancer and they achieved a lot of money for that. Now we have a war on climate change and we have a huge number of people out there who have their career staked on it and are beneficiaries of this process.’"
Is Pilmer’s defiance warranted or is he willfully ignoring the scientific evidence?
Your guess is as good as mine, but one thing is certain: Pilmer deserves credit for standing firm against a tsunami-sized PR wave that would drown most skeptics into silence.
I am not a climatologist, a geologist, or any other “ologist”, so my knowledge of the subject is limited. What interests me are not the scientific facts, but the scientists themselves who reject the very idea of global warming and who even go so far as to mock the concept. Some of these naysayers have been ostracized by their peers; some have even been blackballed by the scientific community. Professor Ian Pilmer of Adelaide University is among these skeptics. In fact, he has been labeled the global warming ‘denialist poster boy’. In Thursday’s edition of The Telegraph, Pilmer argues that global warming is not caused by CO2 and that the major producer of CO2 is volcanoes, not Man. He also adds that “we have had huge climate change in the past and to think the very slight variations we measure today are the result of our life - we really have to put ice blocks in our drinks.’"
So why then are so many scientists falling in step with the global warming party line? Research funding.
“’In previous times people got wonderful research grants in a war against cancer and they achieved a lot of money for that. Now we have a war on climate change and we have a huge number of people out there who have their career staked on it and are beneficiaries of this process.’"
Is Pilmer’s defiance warranted or is he willfully ignoring the scientific evidence?
Your guess is as good as mine, but one thing is certain: Pilmer deserves credit for standing firm against a tsunami-sized PR wave that would drown most skeptics into silence.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Swine Flu Fiasco
The U.S. Government is desperately trying to pass universal healthcare legislation. Nearly all Americans believe healthcare costs are outrageous and that something needs to be done. So one would think that the federal government would capitalize on this disaffection by using its swine-flu vaccine distribution program as a showcase to prove it can facilitate healthcare services.
Well, if that was their intention then they failed miserably from a public relations standpoint.
On Friday the Associated Press reported that “some of New York's biggest companies, including Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, received doses of swine flu vaccine for at-risk employees, drawing criticism that the hard-to-find vaccine is going first to the privileged.” (Wall Street Gets First Crack at Vaccine!- Click Here) Despite President Obama’s declaration that the swine-flu is a national emergency, reports abound of widespread vaccine shortages for those deemed by the CDC to be at greatest risk, children and young adults up to age 24. How’s that for a PR mess? White collar workers from hated multi-national corporations receive the vaccine, but your average inner city or middle-America citizen is left high-and- dry. Regardless of the accuracy of this class warfare view, this is the perception of many people. At a family party I attended yesterday the general response to the U.S. Government and its role in the Wall Street/swine-flu vaccine debacle was, “And these are the people who want to run our healthcare system?”
Sadly, yes.
Well, if that was their intention then they failed miserably from a public relations standpoint.
On Friday the Associated Press reported that “some of New York's biggest companies, including Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, received doses of swine flu vaccine for at-risk employees, drawing criticism that the hard-to-find vaccine is going first to the privileged.” (Wall Street Gets First Crack at Vaccine!- Click Here) Despite President Obama’s declaration that the swine-flu is a national emergency, reports abound of widespread vaccine shortages for those deemed by the CDC to be at greatest risk, children and young adults up to age 24. How’s that for a PR mess? White collar workers from hated multi-national corporations receive the vaccine, but your average inner city or middle-America citizen is left high-and- dry. Regardless of the accuracy of this class warfare view, this is the perception of many people. At a family party I attended yesterday the general response to the U.S. Government and its role in the Wall Street/swine-flu vaccine debacle was, “And these are the people who want to run our healthcare system?”
Sadly, yes.
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