Weight Watchers Pivot to Obesity Care Management
Weight Watchers CEO Seema Sistani apologizes for the company's past focus on willpower, now framing obesity as a "chronic medical condition" requiring pharmaceutical intervention. The hosts analyze this as a shift toward "obesity care management" following Weight Watchers' acquisition of a telehealth service to prescribe drugs like Mounjaro.
weight watchers· seema sistani· zepbound· mounjaro· obesity· big pharma· telehealth
1:16:13 Police, police people. No this now you alluded to some of this and it's not the first clip I'm going to play but the native ad is in full effect for Deathbound Monjaro, which is the new weight loss version of Monjaro. Monjaro is the diabetes weight loss drug which it's for diabetics but it helps you lose weight and Deathbound which I think is called ZepBound but Deathbound as we call it is native advertising everywhere But this is a huge shift in lots of different businesses
1:16:53 And we're going to get to the ultimate outcome of what needs to happen and what I think everyone is really pining over. But one of the companies that clearly needs to correct themselves is Weight Watchers Because for years, Weight Watchers told people it was your... It was you have no self-control. Yeah! You're eating too damn much food. You have no portion control. Well now we know thanks to Big Pharma and incessant lying that people who are overweight it's not...it's not you. It's a medical condition. It's a disease
1:17:34 This is a disease. It's not the horrible crap food you're eating, it's not the portions you're eating Man when I was growing up in The Netherlands The Dutch people would always go You Americans! You have big gulp What is that shit man? No wonder your fat Yeah we are drinking big gallons of sugary water But thats not the problem Its a disease So Weight Watchers hired CNN And they did a beautiful advertorial. I tightened it up to, you know like $1.45 How long was it? Oh, it was three minutes It was an expensive ad. Wow that's expensive CNN business! Ugh, CNN business. That's cheap. CNN Business...I don't think anyone watches this but yeah so they have probably could have gone 10 minutes So they have a relatively new CEO
1:18:24 And she is sorry. But in 2023, another huge shift led by CEO Seema Sistani Weight Watchers jumped into the booming prescription weight loss drug business acknowledging that for some diet and exercise aren't enough I want to be the first to say i'm sorry and we know better now We will do better now For many who are living with obesity, it's a chronic condition and therefore it is not a choice. We needed to be the first to be proud and loud about Notice the piano About the fact that we got it wrong in the past. We've been treating these medications like its vanity And it's not, It's life saving In some ways it sort of make or break for business too though right? Because this is sort of direction this industry Is going with or without weight loss
1:19:12 This is disgusting. Oh, yeah especially with the piano music on a news item supposedly Yeah, piano music on a news items kind of a giveaway as a native ad but this is disgusting so basically they were higher their entire modus operandi Which is to get people to eat less food or eat dead orb and then switch over it completely eating their crummy food? As a part of of a lifestyle change. Did they've just given up on it? No, no! I know what they... we talked about the change they made but this is them selling the change It'll come at the end In past, we've been treating these medications like it's a vanity and its not, it's life saving in some ways it sort of make or break for business too though right because this is sort of direction that industry is going with without Weight Watchers
1:20:01 I would say that's true. And i think that people who are deniers about the fact that obesity is a chronic condition, um, are fat deniers job don't you dare deny that this is a chronic medical condition? You are a denier if you say that going to be left behind Weight Watchers bought sequence and $99 a month telehealth subscription service that connects patients to doctors who can prescribe weight loss and diabetes drugs It's incredibly important to communicate the risks and that is why the training in obesity care management is really important. Also, the lifestyle interventions that need to be done alongside medications. Why should somebody come to Weight Watchers for these kinds of prescription weight loss drugs instead of just going to their doctor? Well they can absolutely go to their doctor but I think what we can provide is a higher support solution
1:20:55 Many doctors don't have training in nutrition, obesity care management and nor do they have the support system to basically help throughout the journey. How do you avoid having to rebrand the company every couple of years as people talk about weight loss differently? I think a bit less as rebranding and more that we should be changing. We should be evolving you can't be around for 60 years and still be the same thing our whole world has shifted yeah they are now in obesity care management and why go to a doctor when you can get a higher support solution I mean seriously. Why go to the doctor who if he's any good or she is any good they'll say what are you nuts? Stop eating! Stop eating you fat pig You're a denier, you're a denier So now we have the best way to position yourself as a company