Weight Watchers jumps the shark

For the latest entry in the “what the hell are they thinking” brand files…

Weight Watchers and McDonald’s announce a deal that will allow Maccas to add the Weight Watchers logo to selected menu items.

No – that is not a misprint – Weight Watchers is endorsing McDonald’s as a healthy eating option. I certainly hope that whatever the paycheck McDonald’s paid them is enough to compensate for their reputation, self-respect and the flagrant disregard of everything they claim to stand for.

The “health and wellbeing” section of the Weight Watchers website touts discovering the connections between “health, wellbeing and weight loss”. I am pretty sure McDonald’s doesn’t fit in any of those categories.

When Australia has one of (if not the) largest percentage of obese people per capita in the world, Weight Watchers should be ashamed of themselves for this flagrant “dollars over principles” decision.

And I’m not letting McDonalds off the hook either. This is just another in a recent jag of them trying to “health-wash” their fatty, unhealthy foods. McCafe is nothing more than the equivalent of a carbon-trading scheme – allowing all the worst behaviors to continue, offset by a few healthy options (but then when compared to a Big Mac a Tim Tam is healthy).

Bottom line – sometimes the short-term dollars just aren’t worth the potential long-term damage. Trust is the currency of brand and when that is lost then it can be a long way back, and Weight Watchers just made a huge withdrawal from their trust account.

Michel Hogan is a Brand Advocate. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia and in the United States, she helps organisations recognize who they are and align that with what they do and say, to build more authentic and sustainable brands. She also publishes the Brand thought leadership blog – Brand Alignment.