Do you ever watch television and see a celebrity pushing a product or service and wonder “Why him/her?” For example, Tommy Lee Jones promoting Ameriprise Financial and Catherine Zeta-Jones trying to get you to sign up for T-Mobile. I wouldn’t associate these people with the things they are trying to sell you. In fact, I am never swayed by celebrity endorsements. These people are getting paid millions to promote products and services that they have most likely never used themselves. They may get a ton of free products being a spokesperson, but do they really use these products and would they HONESTLY endorse them if a big, fat paycheck wasn’t being dangled in front of them?
One sector that really irks me are the weight loss companies. I am an obese person. I would love to lose weight.
I think it’s great that Jessica Simpson, Marie Osmond, Jennifer Hudson and Carrie Fisher lost weight. I truly do! And I’m NOT putting these beautiful ladies down or discrediting their weight loss. Especially Jennifer. WOW!
All of these celebrities have money. They can afford these programs as well as personal chefs and personal trainers. I think anyone could be successful with a weight loss program if they had someone preparing their meals for them and a trainer to help whip them into shape. Even someone who has never been successful in the past would probably do very well if they had a chef and trainer. I know I would.
What I would love to see if for the weight loss companies to have REAL people as their spokespersons. People like you and me. Someone who does not have the financial means to hire a chef or even afford to join a gym. For me that would be a true testament to how well something works.
Each year People magazine has their weight loss issue where real people share their weight loss stories. Often popular diet plans are mentioned. Those are the kinds of endorsements I want to see. These men and women are not paid to endorse the weight loss plans. No one is giving them millions of dollars to tell people to hurry up and join.
I would love to see someone like me promoting a weight loss program. A busy mom with a career and a home to take care of. Someone who has to scramble to make their family a healthy dinner every night and someone whose only current form of exercise is walking the dog. I would love to see how they incorporate a weight loss program into their busy lives, and how they can incorporate the program into their family life. It’s not always easy to microwave your dinner while cooking a different meal for your family. If you have ever been on a “diet” (I hate that word) you probably know what I mean. It’s hard to make your family chicken parmesan and pasta while you are eating a tiny piece of Salisbury steak and a dollop of mashed potatoes.
I wish I had a personal chef who could create healthy meals for not only me, but also my family. That would be wonderful.
I cannot afford a gym membership. I might be able to swing a few small pieces of equipment, but that is about it. My family would love to have a treadmill, but they are outside of our budget.
I know I could turn on my TV and pop in a DVD and follow along with a exercise video but it’s not the same as having someone next to you, encouraging you and pushing you to do more. Not someone like Jillian Michaels. She scares me. 🙂 I don’t want someone to yell and scream at me. I require a more gentle approach.
Sometimes I find exercise videos hard to follow along with. They move faster than I do and some of the moves I physically can’t do. If I had a personal trainer they could help me to exercise at my own speed and recommend other moves I can do based on my needs and limitations.
I wish these weight loss programs would ditch the celebrities and hire REAL people to share their weight loss journey. I would be more likely to use a program that show real people with real results – without outside help.
I’m sorry for my little rant. It just irks me. I’m NOT trying to discredit any of the weight loss plans. I have tried the three most popular and I have had success. They all work, you just have to stick with it and have the money to stay with it for as long as you can.
Do you feel the same way about celebrity endorsements? Have you ever purchased a product or service based on a celebrity endorsement?
Feel free to share your thoughts.
Kimberly
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I often thought and said the same things you mentioned in your post. Keep up the good work!
I don’t have a TV so thankfully I don’t see all those commercials. What a friend has to say carries more weight (so to speak….) than anybody else.
I’m not swayed by celebrity endorsements either. I would much rather see real people, and their weight loss stories, especially if they could show that these people kept the weight off over the years. That would convince me to try their products or services much more than any celebrity endorsement ever could.
you are right, if more REAL people were promoting weight loss programs, more would try them to see if they are a good fit for them. I personally, don’t care to see celebs pushing products, i cannot relate to them at all.
I definitely agree with you. Celebrities can lose weight more easily than regular people because they have nannies to watch their kids so they can go off with a personal trainer and have a professional chef make their meals. That’s why it’s so annoying when they show celebrities who just had a baby showing off their post pregnancy bodies in bikinis within weeks of giving birth. It’s such a ridiculous standard for regular people to try to emulate. Besides, celebrities all use plastic surgery so it’s not real anyway.
I don’t like celebrity endorsements on any product. I can’t think of which celebrities have endorsed hair color but I can’t help but think, “sure you use this”. It’s all about getting money for themselves.
On the weight loss topic, Richard Simmons had good dance exercise videos. I had one on a VHS tape. I don’t know, if they are available on any other format anymore. He had people of different ages and sizes on the video. Maybe, check out your library and see what’s available there.
I can’t say that I’ve ever been swayed by a celebrity endorsement….except that Cindy Crawford anti aging serum made out of the melons commercial almost got me…it’s convincing… but I’m always skeptical about product endorsed by celebs…I cannot imagine that they really use the products…like Jennifer Lopez had that Fiat commercial – I’d like to know if she takes that car out for a spin when going out on the town….
I don’t think that I have ever purchased a product because of celebrity endorsement. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were contacted by Weight Watchers to be their next spokesperson Kimberly. Cheers!