Dispatches

[sapphirestara]

So dispatches on ww tonight on 4 should be interesting.....

 

[Howie]

Be interesting if nothing else. Either way WW works for me so is money I am happy to invest in myself

 

[sapphirestara]

Be interesting if nothing else. Either way WW works for me so is money I am happy to invest in myself

Agreed. And even when I can't afford to go to the meetings I can still follow the good practice!

 

[Juddd_Judy]

What a load of anti-WW propaganda this programme is. The fact that the NHS has spent £4m on Weight Watchers since 2007 isn't a bad use of funds but the programme tried to suggest this was too much and I quote "but has it worked?". Has what worked? Trying to help people lose weight by calorie control rather than funding surgery?

It works out at around £5,000 per PCT per year which wouldn't even pay for half a gastric band op.

I wonder what WW has done to upset her so much?

 

[HappyNoodles]

Im not even doing ww as it just doesn't suit the type of person i am but I thought that whole program was a waste of money and very weird propaganda. Nothing in it suggested anything negative about ww to me! Of course there's more chemically ingredients in ww food, but as ww said themselves, they don't force people to buy the food -or join group or buy calculators etc!!
Found that very strange, why not make a program on all the really faddy diets out there or failed surgeries instead of a genuinely reasonable eating plan?!

 

[Howie]

Indeed a very biased programme. Why didn't they also mention that WW actively encourage members to prepare fresh meals, and the importance of fresh fruit and vegetables. Likewise, no mention that all of the major supermarkets do their own 'healthy option' brands, and often put the WW points value on the packet. Why not seek out and speak to successful members rather than two that have failed ? It is not WW that puts food into our faces...we do that all by ourselves...very strange programme.

 

[vanda]

I thought it was an odd programme too. Interesting that the one group leader they recorded was the one promoting the products in class.

 

[Howie]

I thought it was an odd programme too. Interesting that the one group leader they recorded was the one promoting the products in class.

Indeed...always sceptical of documentaries that only show 'clips and soundbites'..as we all know the media edit out anything that doesn't suit their own agenda. For all we know that class leader went to say what 'other brands' were available, I know my leader regularly does just that (was talking about M&S good for you range just yesterday). Any why does dispatches think it strange that WW should advertise and sell WW products ? am I missing something ?

 

[sapphirestara]

This documentary really baffled me. It doesn't take much to be fair but it wasnt what I was expecting- they were negative about stuff that's quite clearly not negative. And as for branded products.... What are they getting at??


It's a diet that works for millions of people. Without the need to buy specific products.

 

[Juddd_Judy]

It's best to dismiss it as lazy journalism as you could transpose WeightWatchers for any company. If you don't like WW or it doesn't work for you you are free to go. Anyone would think they were exposing an evil cult the way they were carrying on about their products and groups.

I was expecting the show to expose bad practice and present something previously unknown such as previous investigations in to the food industry have done but they obviously couldn't find anything substantial to report.

 

[Lucky7]

I wasn't shocked at this example of lazy reporting. It's what journalist seem to do all the time now, but it's been especially bad since the new year. I think they spent some time brainstorming for January, thinking, what will be people have made new years resolutions about that we can put the cat amongst the pigeons about. The first week it was all about how exercise 'can be dangerous' and not really beneficial (idiotic reporting). Then it was talking about how dangerous it is for people to stop drinking alcohol suddenly, and now it's been the anti diet-club stuff. I suppose they'll be taking a 'quirky new journalistic angle' (read, coming out with all the excuses they think the general public want to hear for themselves to use) on smoking next. For every person rolling their eyes and thinking, 'what a load of tosh' they'll be ten others thinking 'see, I better not join the gym / stop drinking / try to lose weight / etc.' Not because they've been convinced by the arguments, but because it's what they want to hear anyway.

(I'm a Slimming World girl, by the way. I have the books and follow the plan but no longer go to group.)

PS. And I think they should have compared the ice cream to any supermarket basics brand rather than a premium one. I'm sure there are just as many nasties in that kind of ice cream.

 

[Howie]

PS. And I think they should have compared the ice cream to any supermarket basics brand rather than a premium one. I'm sure there are just as many nasties in that kind of ice cream.

I said exactly the same thing..why not compare WW vanilla with haagen dazs Vanilla rather than insisting on using WW toffee and honeycomb sundaes as a comparison !!

 

[Tayberry]

I wasn't shocked at this example of lazy reporting. It's what journalist seem to do all the time now, but it's been especially bad since the new year. I think they spent some time brainstorming for January, thinking, what will be people have made new years resolutions about that we can put the cat amongst the pigeons about. The first week it was all about how exercise 'can be dangerous' and not really beneficial (idiotic reporting). Then it was talking about how dangerous it is for people to stop drinking alcohol suddenly, and now it's been the anti diet-club stuff. I suppose they'll be taking a 'quirky new journalistic angle' (read, coming out with all the excuses they think the general public want to hear for themselves to use) on smoking next. For every person rolling their eyes and thinking, 'what a load of tosh' they'll be ten others thinking 'see, I better not join the gym / stop drinking / try to lose weight / etc.' Not because they've been convinced by the arguments, but because it's what they want to hear anyway.

(I'm a Slimming World girl, by the way. I have the books and follow the plan but no longer go to group.)

PS. And I think they should have compared the ice cream to any supermarket basics brand rather than a premium one. I'm sure there are just as many nasties in that kind of ice cream.

I couldn't agree more with your post. I was totally appalled and angered by that programme last night-I actually felt insulted as both a viewer and a paying member of WW. It really did well to make both the viewer and members seem like stupid, non-thinking airheads who know nothing. I seriously didn't get the actual point of where or what the programme was trying to achieve. These are my wee opinions...
1. We all know we are paying a multi billion corporation money to get weighed, get advice(which we know already!! eat less, exercise more, make healthier eating decisions etc) and to purchase their products. However, no one person is forcing us to do this...it's choice.
2. With regards to buying WW products, again, no one is forcing us to buy the stuff. What they didn't show, as another member here has posted, was that other supermarkets endorse the PP system on their healthier ranges so you aren't limited to buying WW products only. Even taking that into account, members can eat ANYTHING as long as they stay within their daily PP budget. What's the big deal with taking the WW calculator to the supermarket; I felt they showed calculating the PP values in a very negative approach.
3. Did they show how members are encouraged to cook more healthily and how members/anyone can access volumes and volumes of great recipes? No. The programme just focussed on convenience foods.
4. It was noted that 75% of members regain the weight they lose-is that only limited to WW members? What about other slimming clubs/approaches?
5. It was hardly a balanced piece of journalism to focus in on two "yo-yo" dieters. To be honest, I bet the majority of us here on this site could be classified as "yo-yo's"!!!! Why didn't they interview someone who had got to goal weight and how they have maintained it? I just didn't get the point of interviewing those two women. And again, did the programme makers think we are so stupid that we don't realise how much money we spend/waste on joining and rejoining? What an insult.

Overall, to me that programme was utterly pointless. I felt like saying after the programme had ended was "And?...." As viewers, what did we learn? Nothing. We're we enlightened to some shocking truth? No. It was half an hour of utter trashy reporting.

 

[MissSmileyBrunette]

Watched this too. Funny how they mention the nhs funding ww. Strangely the nhs also funds slimming world too. It all depends on your age, weight, conditions; etc and also your area ... Different boroughs have different partnerships with different schemes 'on referal'. I've never been able to sign up for either via the nhs.

I know ww does promote its products ... Eg in magazines but you can always work out the pp of any brand.

Didn't find the programme really offered any solutions to the obesity issue really.

Seemed quite onesided really.