Weight Loss Advertising

Advertisements for weight loss are everywhere, but are they helpful or manipulative? According to the Federal Trade Commission, the only thing being lost in weight loss advertisements is money, not weight. With weight loss ads preying on the insecurities of a targeted overweight audience, they abuse the innocence of the viewer by influencing them with displays of skinny models. Weight loss ads use sex appeal to manipulate the audience through the usage of healthy food to appeal to the overweight audience, the display of model transformation pictures, and the way advertised models are clothed and expressed. First, Weight loss ads use sex appeal to persuade the audience because usage of healthy food to appeal to the overweight audience. In the
Nothing is found more sexually appealing than a model in a bathing suit. In the advertisement released by Xenadrine Ultra, it not only contains two transformation photos but also a famous reality television show actor and a model in a bikini. The quotes from both celebrity Ronnie Ortiz-Magro and bikini model Nicole Grenier discuss the use Xenadrine and the results. Grenier states that she lost 35 pounds and has never felt more beautiful. This attracts the overweight women in the audience. The insecurity of not feeling beautiful unless the viewer takes Xenadrine to lose confirms the manipulation and persuasion used in weight loss ads. Using ethos by having Ortiz-Magro, a young fit average weight actor reassuring the viewer that it works because he uses it, gives the viewer a sense of security. In the mind of the viewer, if the celebrity trusts it, so should they. Intelligently displaying an image of the Xenadrine box so that consumers know what to look for in the stores provided at the bottom of the ad that sell this product draws the viewers attention. The attractive man next to the young skinny model in a bikini is where the sex appeal is targeted. Most overweight people want to feel attractive, so displaying a woman who went through the transition who is now standing next to an attractive movie star makes the viewer believe that the dietary supplement formula will make them attractive.While the ad has a lot going on, it distracts the viewer from the fine print that reads all groups who participated in the studies of Xenadrine were on a calorie-reduced diet and sensible diet and exercise are essential for healthy weight loss. The fine print implies that although Xenadrine works, other measures were taken into effect to lose excessive weight in such a short period of