A Rhetorical Exploration of Diet Programs’ Marketing to Women

A Rhetorical Exploration of Diet Programs’ Marketing to Women

Diet Programs’ Smart Marketing Tactic: Using Celebrities

Food purchasing and eating habits are directly impacted by marketing strategies. For example, in the 1970’s scientists and studies proclaimed that eating more high-fiber foods result in a reduced risk of cancer. However, after the announcement of this scientific information, consumers did not up the amount of high-fiber foods in their diet right away. It was not until 1984, when advertisements claiming a relationship between high-fiber diets and protection against cancer appeared on popular television channels and magazines, did people take notice. According to Roland Virgina from Yahoo!News, “by 1987, approximately 2 million households had begun eating high-fiber cereal.” The use of popular media to endorse ideas and brands is noticeably influential. A popular strategy in the advertisement society is to feature a celebrity in their packaging and ads. By doing so, it sends hidden messages to consumers persuading them to believe that the celebrity recommends the product, uses it, and ultimately depends on it for success. The use of celebrities to promote diet programs (e.g. Weight Watchers) is effective because this marketing strategy delivers inspiration over wide demographic, grabs the attention of millions, and provides consumers with these celebrities’ weight loss journeys’.

Delivers Inspiration Over a Wide Demographic:

Using celebrities to promote diet programs helps reach out to consumers of all shapes and forms- male, female, black, white, big, or small. According to Worldometers, “there are over 1,570,894,200 overweight people in the world.” And with the bombardment perfect bodied images and commercials for weight loss products all over the television, the weight loss industry has been growing at a rapid pace. Brooke Axtell of Forbes Magazine, states that “the global weight management industry, commanded by large international...