I guess I can take the quotes from the statement doing it for free from my original reply: I've edited the full article down a bit. Original was quite long...
THIS holiday season, three of the country’s biggest diet companies are turning to three well-known divas to deliver public-minded messages about obesity and its opposite, hunger, along with the customary exhortations for people to begin shedding pounds as soon as the year’s festivities end.
Janet Jackson in a commercial for Nutrisystem, which is promoting an antihunger campaign, too.
The singers Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Jennifer Hudson are showing off newly slender bodies to entice tubbier folks to follow their example. “Get On It,” says Ms. Jackson, in the “Success” program being introduced on Friday by Nutrisystem Inc.
Even with the stellar lineup, major weight-loss brands are going beyond usual diet offerings like new or tastier food to add their voices to public nutritional concerns.
Nutrisystem adopted the approach of combating hunger at the behest of Ms. Jackson, who said in an interview that “It’s so heartbreaking to see people hungry. This should not happen at all.”
Although she did not lose her initial weight on Nutrisystem, she is adhering to its plan now, and signed up with the brand, she said, because “weight is something I’ve dealt with it all my life.” She wrote about her body image issues in “True You,” her 2011 book.
“You can get people’s attention when you are famous,” she said, “but hunger is not something you can solve alone, which is why I wanted this partnership. I’m not getting paid. This is from my heart.”
Food will be given to the nonprofit Nutribank and be distributed by hunger relief agencies like Save the Children, according to Joseph M. Redling, Nutrisystem’s chief executive. He said the company would donate food in the United States and financial support abroad to fight hunger.
Ms. Jackson is appearing in two 60-second Nutrisystem ads, which weave a more casual persona together with her preparations for a concert. The spots will be officially broadcast starting Dec. 26.“You see her different facets — her in jeans, as authentic and natural, and you see the performance side,” said Mark Dowley, a principal at DDCD & Partners, an independently owned New York agency that handled the campaign.
The spot promotes Nutrisystem’s offerings, which, Mr. Redling said, now have more protein and fiber. Some are sold in bags that can be steamed for convenience. He said the company would spend this year “at least equal to last year’s spend,” on advertising, which was $319 million, according to figures from Kantar Media. Jenny’s outlays were about $50 million and Weight Watchers’ were nearly $134 million in 2010, Kantar said.
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Even so, Weight Watchers dominates the industry, with revenue last year of $1.45 billion, according to Marketdata Enterprises, an industry tracking firm in Tampa, Fla.. Nutrisystem was No. 2, with sales of $509 million, down from $776 million before the recession. Jenny tallied $462 million, which is an estimate because it is a division of Nestlé and does not disclose the exact figures, according to Marketdata.