ole as a leader in the industry? As an industry leader, should she be held accountable for any negative actions towards her as a result of misleading consumers?
I say yes, yes and yes.
The weight-loss industry has boasted a multi-million dollar industry for years with corporate heavyweights like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Slim-Fast and countless others vying for consumer's dollars while promising them rapid and safe weight loss.
Without a doubt, consumers spend an exorbitant amount annually on the next diet revolution, seeking to find solace in a pill, shake or a meal-to-go. And although consumers have a wealth of information to make informed decisions about weight loss, the majority of them tend to lean towards ‘testimonials’ when making their buying decisions. This is where Heidi comes in at."The dieting Body Wars are great for the economy, as the majority of discontented dieters repeatedly invest their resources in shedding pounds. Figures from the late 1990’s showed that Americans spent $50 billion annually on diet products.7 This exceeds the projections for the entire federal Education, Training, Employment and Social Services budgets by five to ten billion dollars.8 In fact, this figure is the equivalent of the gross national product of Ireland.9 The price per pound lost is enormous, with one study of Optifast dieters reporting the cost to be $180 per pound.10"
Excerpted from "Body Wars: Making Peace with Women's Bodies" by Margo Maine.
Heidi painted us this picture of a typical overweight female who “stumbled upon” this wonderful diet idea and wanted to share it with the world. Fortunately and unfortunately, Heidi had to have known the buying frenzy this would create in those who are starved for a weight loss plan with minimal effort and maximum results. She showed the public what was to believed to have been a ‘before’ picture and an ‘after’ picture. Heidi terribly misled and deceived consumers by selling them a product and information that was not true. Her actions as a leader in the weight-loss industry were not only unethical but they were repugnant.
As leaders in whatever industries we serve, we have the inherent expectation to serve without misleading, lying or unethical behavior. Does it happen anyway? Sure it does. That would be foolish to think that it doesn’t. However, because it happens and because it is even common does not justifiably give any leader the right to say or do whatever he pleases.
Thankfully, Ms. Diaz was stopped in time enough to avoid furthering the damage that her weight-loss claims have started. This sends a clear, distinct message to those in the weight loss industry that not only will false claims not be tolerated, but also that consumers will seek out concrete proof and evidence that what you say your product will do, it will do. Fortunately, for Ms. Diaz, it didn’t.
» Know More Media (Quick Link) Review from Know More Media
It’s been an interesting week recapping and recuperating from the BlogWorld Expo exhaustion…er…excitement. We have found time however, to get back into the groove with our buzz topics. How about a quick link rundown of this and las... [Read More]
Tracked on: November 16, 2007 6:04 PM | Permalink to Trackback