This may come as a shock to some, but celebrities are real people. It’s true! They might have a lot of money and herds of photographers following them, but they also wear sweatpants and eat food just like us. Their status as actual, corporeal people has led to a problem for the sellers of weight-loss products: what happens if the famous person who you’re paying to lose weight can’t keep it off?

Two notable examples of this phenomenon: Jared of “Subway Diet” fame, and actress/ex-NutriSystem spokesperson Kirstie Alley. Bloomberg Businessweek looked at this problem after two things happened this week: Weight Watchers announced a new version of their program, and rumors abound that spokesperson/success story Jessica Simpson is pregnant. Having a real and relatable spokesperson is a good thing, but the problem with real celebrity spokespeople is that companies can’t lock them up and control their diet and exercise. Well, as far as we know.

Weight Watchers’ Big Fat Marketing Dilemma [Bloomberg BusinessWeek]

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