People look up to media for guidance on health matters and good living. But when tips go weird, readers become frustrated and angry. Then the backlash becomes understandable.
That is what Cosmopolitan magazine had to face when readers reacted angrily and sarcastically to a smartly packaged article on weight loss. The magazine had tweeted the article with the title "How This Woman Lost 44 Pounds Without *ANY* Exercise" and ended up getting brickbats from the audience.
Readers reacted swiftly when they found out that the article was a profile of an Australian cancer patient who lost her weight to the disease while bouncing back to life, using a specially designed diet and "without a single session at the gym."
The article opens like this:
"Simone Harbinson is a 31-year-old from Melbourne, Australia, who's healthier than ever, but the mother of two still has a complicated relationship with her body. 'I was never satisfied with my shape or weight,' she says."
The article then goes on to describe Harbinson's battle with a life-threatening illness and the surgeries she endured, as well as other health complications such as a partial collapse of the lung, a damaged disc in her back, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Magazine Makes Amends To The Content
Sensing the bitter mood of readers, Cosmopolitan made amends and tried to quell the trolls. The controversy had Cosmo deleting the tweet, though the screenshots were already taken by thousands of Twitterati.
Officially, the magazine and its parent brand Hearst were tight-lipped on the controversy.
The amended headline on Cosmopolitan's website now reads: "A Serious Health Scare Helped Me Love My Body More Than Ever." An editor's note below the article says the story has been updated, but the flub is reflected in the URL, which contains the keywords "no exercise."
The magazine also chopped off some lines in the article that touted "Simone's weight loss success is proof that ANYONE can lose weight without breaking a sweat simply by eating more mindfully - no gym required."
Reason Of Outrage By Readers
The readers were outraged by the way the magazine treated the idea of weight loss as a priority over a person's struggle to regain health in a hard way.
The profile highlights Harbinson's battle with cancer. The woman, a mother of two, hails from Melbourne, Australia. The article has Harbinson sharing her disappointment in not being able to exercise like the way she used to do before.
Readers are infuriated that instead of presenting the story as the liberation of a woman from the trauma of cancer under her sheer grit, the story picked out a weight loss angle with an indirect moral that contracting cancer is also a way to shed the extra pounds.
One publication noted that yes, Harbinson did lose 44 pounds without going to the gym, but knowing how it happened, "most people would say it was lucky the 31-year-old managed to escape with her life."
Weight Loss From Special Diet
The weight loss part in the article, curiously, makes an effort to promote the special diet called "The Bod" prepared by a fitness model in Australia. Harbinson credits the loss of 44 pounds to the special diet as she was not in a condition to go to the gym.
The Bod's product page has been hyperlinked and it also carries many of Harbinson's Instagram posts offering discounts for the program.
Thankfully, the story does not explicitly say cancer was the reason for her weight loss. But the cancerous condition has been used as a springboard that made Harbinson go for the diet.
Market For Weight Loss
Meanwhile, the key drivers of the weight loss and obesity management market have been found as rising obesity as well as the surge in lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
The weight loss market has products, services, and therapies for reducing weight for obese patients.
According to the World Health Organization, when the body mass index equals or exceeds 25, that condition is categorized as overweight. When the BMI becomes equal to or bigger than 30 it is called obesity.
In the obesity management market, three segments dominate: diets, services, and fitness equipment. Diets include food, beverage, and supplement.
In weight loss supplements, products such as protein, fiber, green tea extract, and conjugated linoleic acid are prominent.
The weight loss and obesity management market have services such as fitness centers, slimming centers, diet nutrition, and psychological consulting services as the integral parts.
