Last month, Kate Hudson announced she was the latest brand ambassador for “WW,” which Weight Watchers now calls itself after rebranding in an attempt to appeal to the wellness craze. Naturally, the announcement was met with criticism that questioned Hudson’s new role as well as the validity of the organization’s rebrand; WW still markets itself as “the global leader in weight management,” implying that despite a new moniker, it is still a system for counting calories and weight loss.
On the Today show Thursday morning, Hudson responded to these arguments. “My struggle is not in weight loss,” she explained. “Mine is about staying healthy, trying to stay focused and balanced on being healthy.”
She continued:
“One of the things about this new reimagining of WW is that it’s not just about weight, it’s about wellness. That, to me, it’s all about support, you always need a support system, whether it be a trainer, a best friend, an app. Everyone’s looking to know how do we get motivated, how do we stay motivated? That’s the number one thing people always ask me. And then when I met Oprah, with the CEO Mindy [Grossman], who’s this rockstar, female CEO who I’m madly in love with, we were talking about what Weight Watchers was and what WW is becoming. It was exciting and inspiring to me...”
Then she goes on to say WW is “not a diet,” followed by a list of the kinds of diets some WW members could be on:
...Part of the myth-busting of what is WW, it’s a community for people to understand their health better, holistically. It’s about, ‘Where do we go to practice mindfulness?’ Where do we go to understand the foods that we’re putting into our body? Where do we go when we fall off the wagon and we need to get up again?’ Where is this ‘I can do any kind of diet,’ because WW is not a diet, it’s really a lifestyle. You could be on the Mediterranean diet, you could be a vegan, you could be anything; and you can be a part of the community.”
Apparently words can mean anything you want them to now! It’s an interesting tactic—appealing to a woke era’s desire for health and self-care through “wellness” by using trendy language without having to actually practice what you preach. It works the other way, too: by saying something is not “about weight loss,” even though it clearly is about weight loss, Hudson will help people believe WW is not about weight loss. Simple enough.
She concluded the interview by name-dropping her athleisure brand and unleashed this choice line: “The community of women and active wear are always looking for ‘How do I get started on my health?’ and it’s always, for me, number one, food.”