Oprah buys 10% share in Weight Watchers

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  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    I hope she can teach them to spell "lose". The closed captioning on all the Oprah WW commercials spells it "loose". Makes me cringe every time.

    Makes me glad I haven't seen it. It would irritate me as well.

    Anyone know how well Oprah's chai tea did/does at Starbucks? I figure that'd be a decent measure of her current influence. Obviously it did at least OK since they still serve it.
  • SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage
    SarcasmIsMyLoveLanguage Posts: 2,668 Member
    The weight loss industry is worth billions of dollars. She's getting in, while using her own fame and weight struggles to boost sales. I'd say she's a very smart businesswoman.
  • justrollme
    justrollme Posts: 802 Member
    toe1226 wrote: »
    I do not appreciate the commodification of health or weight loss. I think it is unfortunate that a woman with so much money who is supposed to empower women is investing her money, in order to make more money, off of women who think they need to spend money to change their health. I've always been very pro-Oprah, but this really soured me.

    I agree with this completely. I've seen a couple of the commercials, in one she talks about how much simpler it is to use WW's points system, rather than count calories. I find this disappointing on multiple levels.

  • songbird13291
    songbird13291 Posts: 120 Member
    Here's the problem with Weight Watchers, and Oprah can't fix it.

    WW makes half of its money via meetings, and the rest via online subscriptions and the sale of merchandise, such as food scales, exercise equipment, snack foods, etc.. So while a significant number of WW members attend meetings, a significant number of members are online only, using the WW site the way we are using this site. Activity monitors like FitBit also offer food trackers and weight loss advice. A version of anything that you see for sale on WW can also be found on Amazon. The only thing that WW does that's "different" is the actual meetings. Otherwise WW is no different from sites that are free or significantly lower in cost.

    So WW was already hurting when Oprah bought the stock. Oprah bough stock, and the stock price went up. The commercial aired, and the stock price went up.


    But is it sustainable?

    I don't think so.

    Sure, they got a lot of new people subscribing, partially because it's January and partially because of Oprah. But how many of them will still be members in 3 months?

    And more importantly, will it offset the huge numbers of longtime members who have cancelled their subscriptions in the last few weeks? WW rolled out its new SmartPoints plan in December, and a lot of people are not happy with the new plan. And WW rolled out a new website along with the new plan, and the website has been suffering from technical issues for almost a month.

    Should be interesting to see what happens in the coming months.
  • soulofgrace
    soulofgrace Posts: 175 Member
    songbird13291 wrote: »

    But is it sustainable?

    I don't think so.

    Just like all of her attempts at weight loss. Bless her heart.

    You'd think that someone with such a heartbreaking story, re: obesity, would invest in open source education. We are all still learning how it affects us and we need to learn how to live when there is too much available. (First world problem.)
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
    toe1226 wrote: »
    I do not appreciate the commodification of health or weight loss. I think it is unfortunate that a woman with so much money who is supposed to empower women is investing her money, in order to make more money, off of women who think they need to spend money to change their health. I've always been very pro-Oprah, but this really soured me.

    I don't think Oprah is so great. She has overcome a lot and I won't deny that, but this is the same woman who put stock in James Fray, Dr. Oz [good surgeon, bad at everything else], Dr. Phil, and many more.
  • jdhcm2006
    jdhcm2006 Posts: 2,254 Member
    justrollme wrote: »
    toe1226 wrote: »
    I do not appreciate the commodification of health or weight loss. I think it is unfortunate that a woman with so much money who is supposed to empower women is investing her money, in order to make more money, off of women who think they need to spend money to change their health. I've always been very pro-Oprah, but this really soured me.

    I agree with this completely. I've seen a couple of the commercials, in one she talks about how much simpler it is to use WW's points system, rather than count calories. I find this disappointing on multiple levels.

    WW has always pushed points and not calories. Of course they're going to say using points is easier b/c that's their entire program.


    @toe1226 you can be a business woman while still being pro-woman. The two are not mutually exclusive. Weight loss is a billion dollar corporation, with majority of the CEOs being men. The person at WW making the most money off of people's weight insecurities is the CEO, who is a male. Please don't tout feminism for the reason a woman can't make a business deal in the weight loss industry. Also, 10% doesn't give her any real power. I'm sure it was something like, "I'll do commercials, but I want more than the standard pay, I want to be a shareholder." And WW agreed b/c they're trying to their elongate their lifespan.

    People put money into their weight loss/fitness journey all of the time through gyms, grocery shopping, activity trackers, apps, etc.

    But I really don't see this giving WW the long term boost it desires. People are looking for ways to cut down on cost and what better way than apps like LoseIt or MFP.
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    I always try to be polite in my postings so I won't use the colorful language that comes to my mind.

    Let's just say she's a sell-out, and worse than a sell-out because she is such a popular persuader and role model.
  • IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt
    IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt Posts: 695 Member
    I, too, find it disappointing that counting calories was specifically called out as an example of something negative in the commercial. A friend of mine showed me how count points in her WW book a few years ago and my head was swimming from the steps. Calorie counting with the MFP app takes seconds per meal, on average. Being aware of calories is one of THE most eye opening, important things I've ever learned. Like it or not, calories are our 'food currency' and we each have a budget with which to spend. Calorie information is everywhere, making it the most ubiquitous form of data available. So it saddens me to see Oprah knock it on national commercials.

    Also, I think Oprah is looking quite good. She has had personal trainers and personal chefs, all the help money can buy a person with a weight problem, yet through all her weight gains and weight losses she seems to settle in at about the weight she is currently at, over and over. I wish someone so prominent would say, "This is my natural weight and I love myself just the way I am!" Of course that doesn't make money though, does it!
  • vivmom2014
    vivmom2014 Posts: 1,649 Member
    IdLikeToLoseItLoseIt wrote: »
    A friend of mine showed me how count points in her WW book a few years ago and my head was swimming from the steps.

    My MIL showed me her points calculator. It was ridiculously complicated (to me, anyway) with all the inputting of calories and fat and fiber. Talk about making a simple process into a mountainous headache.

  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    realityfades wrote: »
    toe1226 wrote: »
    I do not appreciate the commodification of health or weight loss. I think it is unfortunate that a woman with so much money who is supposed to empower women is investing her money, in order to make more money, off of women who think they need to spend money to change their health. I've always been very pro-Oprah, but this really soured me.

    I don't think Oprah is so great. She has overcome a lot and I won't deny that, but this is the same woman who put stock in James Fray, Dr. Oz [good surgeon, bad at everything else], Dr. Phil, and many more.

    yup.

    not a fan of her or WW.

    smart businesswoman though, I'll hand that much to her. surprised she hasn't done something like this before now, honestly.
  • Jain
    Jain Posts: 861 Member
    Tbh I really don't care. I've tried WW and, other than the weigh in, felt like I was being subjected to an infomercial. The hard sell on WW products was ridiculous, and no exercise other than a gentle walk was encouraged. I lasted a couple of weeks, and did lose a few lbs, but learned nothing useful.
    As to Oprah saving the brand, well she's advertising it here on UK TV, but as we don't really watch her show I doubt it'll work.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
    Jain wrote: »
    Tbh I really don't care. I've tried WW and, other than the weigh in, felt like I was being subjected to an infomercial. The hard sell on WW products was ridiculous, and no exercise other than a gentle walk was encouraged. I lasted a couple of weeks, and did lose a few lbs, but learned nothing useful.
    As to Oprah saving the brand, well she's advertising it here on UK TV, but as we don't really watch her show I doubt it'll work.

    I've never tried WW but I've heard the same thing from other people. That when you go to the meetings, the leaders try to push WW products on you.

    In theory, WW doesn't seem like a bad idea but I don't think it's as practical as CICO.
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