"No Diets For You!" - MediaBistro tells all

"Although we live in New York City, we have zero intention of slogging through Times Square to see the latest addition to the billboard menagerie. Weight Watchers and Special K are launching electronic billboards tonight in the fight against fat.

The cereal maker is promoting its Special K Challenge, a diet program developed four years ago that includes a range of Special K products.

From The New York Times:
"That's the biggest moment of self-evaluation of the year. We want to be part of the resolution," said Per Jacobson, a creative director at Leo Burnett in Chicago.

Meanwhile, Weight Watchers is pushing their “Stop Dieting. Start Living" slogan, which is the first effort from their new agency McCann Erickson New York.

Oh yes! Here comes the genius of McCann. Hold your hats kids.

Lori Senecal, the head of McCann Erickson New York, said that the Weight Watchers system is "a natural fit for the modern dieter. But, she said, the brand needed some updating."

True. True. So, whatcha going to do McCann? Oh right! Lean on YouTube and user generated content, but of course! There's also a MySpace page and YouTube video of old dieting gimmicks. The creativity just runs wild at McCann. Wild we tell you!

"The company will be soliciting user-generated content. Through Jan. 25, people will be able to send stories to the Weight Watchers Web site about the strangest or craziest diets they have tried. Some will be chosen to appear on the billboard in Times Square."

Joyce King Thomas, chief creative officer of McCann Erickson New York, had a good thought when she said that these outlets could be a modern take on the classic Weight Watchers group meeting.

However, um... why is it that McCann, again, fails to go the extra mile? Remember the Applebee's campaign? Another perfect example. It's like, what - you guys can't think beyond YouTube?

There are eight million diet based social networking sites out there. Why not tap directly into these established bases?

Or consider that women have long seen their phones as a tool for expression and social communication. Plus, a fairly new Pew research study makes it clear how connected we all our to the darn things. So... why not pull in mobile and really connect users to Weight Watchers (through upbeat messaging about the weight goals, connecting the consumers to one another a la Twitter, etc.).

Ugh. There's so much more they could be doing, but we're going to stop here. If you guys have your own feedback, thoughts, ideas, you know the drill - email us at agencyspy at mediabistro dot com or use the anon tip box and we'll post.

We miss you guys."

Posted by superspy 10:59 AM Brands Leo Burnett McCann

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What happens when we can do it?

Welcome to 2008. I think / KNOW/ I need a personal blog to talk about what happens when someone loses 145 - 155 lbs and knows that they have to go the last mile and has to keep the weight off?

So, what happens when they know that they are addicted to food?

What happens when she reads on the DRUDGE REPORT and it is linked to London's Daily Mail that another woman has died of morbid obesity at the tender age of 29 and it could have been her ---(third person is bullshit, girll!) ME.

THE STORY OF THE HALF TON WOMAN

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=505198&in_page_id=1811

The half ton mum: Tragic story of world's heaviest woman By TAMARA HARDINGHAM-GILL - More by this author » Last updated at 21:19pm on 30th December 2007

Comments (32) Renee Williams became the largest person ever to have gastric bypass surgery earlier this year after ballooning to nearly seventy stone (980 lbs)– but died 12 days later.

The bedridden 29-year-old begged doctors to perform the operation when she became so large that she couldn't hug her two children.

Her astonishing size meant that the operating table had to be specially widened for the procedure.

Larger than life: Renee Williams weight balloned from 40 to 70 stone after a car crash
The operation was successful and Renee lost four stone due to her reduced stomach capacity before dying of a sudden heart attack less than two weeks later. Her story is told in a Channel 4 programme next week.

Renee, from Austin, Texas, had battled with her weight since childhood and was classified as super-morbidly obese at the age of 12.

She was married by the age of 15 and had her first child, Mirina, at 16 weighing 30 stone.
Renee had grown to a massive 35 stone by the time she had her second daughter Mariah.

Tragic: Renee died days after the surgery"When you don't have that thing in your head that tells you you're full, it's disgusting the amount of food you can eat," She said.

In 2003, she was hit by a drunken driver in an accident that left her unable to walk because her leg was crushed.

She became bedridden and began eating even more.

"She wouldn't stop eating until her stomach started to hurt," says 13-year-old Mirina.
"She would get about eight burgers and eat them all. I kept telling her she was eating her emotions. I think she was sick and tired of being in that bed."

Renee piled on more and more weight and by 2007 she was nearing 70 stone - six times the size of a healthy woman in her age group.

She begged doctors to perform gastric bypass surgery on her and was turned down by 12 who insisted that the operation was too dangerous for a woman of her size.

"I understand the risks but I am not going to make it if I don't have the surgery," Renee said at the time.

"I want to be able to care for my daughters and see them graduate high school."

Gastric bypass surgery makes the stomach smaller and allows food to bypass part of the small intestine. Patients feel full sooner, consume fewer calories and lose weight.

Houston's Renaissance hospital finally agreed to perform the surgery after Renee's condition deteriorated and she was given just a year to live by doctors.

The operation on February 20th took five hours as surgeons had to cut through masses of fat to secure the band.

"I feel like I've been run over by a truck," she said afterwards.

Renee began to lose weight immediately but suffered a sudden heart attack on March 4th which took her life.

"I wanted to sit down in a corner and die." Says a distraught Mirina.

"Mom was my best friend and now she has gone it hurts."'

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