Weight Loss: A Multi-Billion Dollar Industry

Weight Loss: A Multi-Billion Dollar Industry
More than two thirds of American adults are trying either to lose weight or to forestall
weight gain, according to a 1996 survey of 107,000 people by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (“CDC”)The nearly 29 percent of men and 44 percent of women who are trying to
lose weight (an estimated 68 million American adults) comprise a huge potential market for sellers
of weight-loss products and services. No wonder overall sales in the weight-loss/weight-control
industry are burgeoning. According to an article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, consumers
spent an estimated $34.7 billion in 2000 on weight-loss products and programs.This figure
includes sales of books, videos, and tapes, low-calorie foods and drinks, sugar substitutes, meal
replacements, prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, medical treatments,
commercial weight-loss chains, and other products or services related to weight-loss or weightmaintenance.
Although total sales information is not available, the figures that are available are impressively
large. For example, year 2000 sales for the eight largest weight-loss chains totaled $788 million,
and sales for dietary supplements that purport to promote weight loss accounted for $279 million in
retail outlets alone. In a report from the Business Communications Company based on 1999
figures, total sales for weight-loss supplements were estimated at $4.6 billion. This corresponds
with estimates from the CDC, based on a five-state random-digit telephone survey, that 7% of the
adult population used one or more non-prescription weight-loss products during 1996 through
1998.14 The authors extrapolate from this survey that an estimated 17.2 million Americans used

nonprescription weight-loss products during this time period.
The amount of total sales for unproven or worthless products is not known, but it is
substantial. Infomercials, direct mail advertising, and free-standing inserts can generate tens of
millions of dollars in sales within a short period of time for a single product, and, as this report
demonstrates, there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of weight-loss products on the market.
These forms of saturation advertising do not require high response rates to be highly profitable. As
an example of the prevalence of hard-sell marketing for non-prescription weight-loss products,
spending on infomercials (usually 30-minute to an hour programs pitching products for direct sale via
telephone call-ins) for weight-loss and nutrition products exceeded $107 million in 1999.The
alarming increase in overweight and obesity combined with marketers’ easy access to mass media
outlets makes the business of weight loss a booming enterprise.