Weight Watchers Magazine
Reviewed By WLR Dietitian
|
|
 |
|
Fact File - Weight Watchers Magazine |
|
Issue reviewed: June 2005 |
|
Circulation: 243,010 |
|
Pages: 132,
32% Advertising |
|
Cover Price: £2.50
|
Content
What you’d expect from a magazine aimed at helping
people to lose weight: success stories and food, exercise,
health, lifestyle, fashion and beauty features related to
weight loss.
Overall view
Weight Watchers magazine is clearly aimed at people who
are already members of Weight Watchers’ clubs. Two diet plans
are included but there’s no explanation given about how they
work or how many Points you should have each day – you
obviously need to become a
member to find this out first. Meanwhile, food features only
give Points values and fail to include details about the
calorie or fat content, again making them completely useless
if you want to lose weight but aren’t a Weight Watchers
member. Only the recipes give calorie information.
In Detail
The magazine is hugely biased towards selling or promoting
the Weight Watchers brand, whether it’s food, the clubs, the
online service or books. Meanwhile, a huge number of pages are
dedicated to advertising and promotions, with the result that
the magazine feels as though it contains little independent,
unbiased information.
Furthermore, it’s a disappointing read and is badly put
together. There are no obvious sections to help you navigate
your way around the magazine and there’s little new or
original information. I felt as though I’d read most of the
features before – we’re talking bikini’s to suit your shape,
how friends might be making you fat, boosting your love life
to help you slim, women and heart disease and a fact file on
fibre!
Features also lack structure, are often badly written and
not thought through properly. For example, there’s a feature
that explains more about osteoarthritis and sleep apnoea, with
no obvious link between them, other than the fact they’re both
related to being overweight! Meanwhile, many features lack
expert opinion or facts and figures to back up statements. In
fact, the magazine doesn’t appear to have any experts at all!
There’s also little attention paid to the real needs of
slimmers. The fashion featured, for example, only goes up to a
size 18 – not very practical or inspiring for bigger readers.
And there was little to inspire older readers who wanted to
lose weight – the four successful slimmers were aged 22, 23,
25 and 34!
Who it will suit
People who are already members of Weight
Watchers and don’t mind paying more to learn about the Weight
Watchers brand.
Value for money
- Slimming – the information is fairly useless unless
you’re already a Weight Watchers member 1/10
- Overall content – you’re paying for a lot of adverts and
very few new ideas 1/10
Related Information
Weight Watchers Recipe Book
Health and Fitness Magazine Reviews
Juliette's Diet Book
Reviews |
