Did body positivity kill Jenny Craig?

After almost four decades of feeding women messages like, “Hey! You’re chubby, too. Let’s lose weight together!” (uh, thanks, Kirstie Alley), weight-loss giant Jenny Craig has collapsed. 

The Australian arm of Jenny Craig has gone into voluntary administration after the US parent company filed for bankruptcy last week. 

Could this major news mean we are witnessing the end of diet culture? 

Did Jenny Craig fail, because in 2023, our world is leaning harder than ever into body positivity? A world that prioritises healthy lifestyles over waif-thin bodies, while Jenny Craig was still selling itself as a “Weight Loss Program”?

Or as one person on the Mamamia team asked, “Is it so deeply uncool to talk about wanting to lose weight that their audience was ageing out?”

Graeme Hughes from the Griffith Business School thinks so. He tells Mamamia: “The glitz and glam of the '80s [weight-loss programs] really hasn’t transitioned well into the 21st century. 

“The brand itself has really moved out of step with the consumer.”

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Mamamia’s Clare Stephens has a different take.

As she says on Mamamia Out Loud: “The demise of Jenny Craig does not symbolise the downfall of diet culture. 

“What it does signal is a shift from ‘overt’ to ‘covert’ diet culture.”

She’s talking about diets that are passing themselves off as ‘wellness’ or ‘health’. “Wolf in sheep’s clothing”, as Clare says, but still diets in essence. 

So, what happened to Jenny Craig?

In a leaked email to staff last week, America’s Jenny Craig announced that it was throwing in the towel, due to an “inability to secure additional financing,” according to NBC. 

Initially, the Australian and New Zealand arm was thought to be safe. “You may have heard the news that Jenny Craig USA are intending to file for bankruptcy,” Jenny Craig Australia wrote in a statement to Mamamia. “While this is unfortunate news for our colleagues in the USA, the Jenny Craig operations here in Australia and New Zealand do act independently.

“Here in Australia and New Zealand we currently continue to operate and support our clients. As always, our priority is to continue providing the best possible service.”

That all changed this week when the Australian company was forced into voluntary administration, despite being profitable, due to the non-repayment of a loan from the US parent company.

What’s changed since Jenny Craig first started?

The first Jenny Craig Weight Loss Centre opened in Melbourne in 1983 by, you guessed it, a woman named Jenny Craig. She was an American who had struggled to lose weight after her second baby, and she and her husband Sidney founded the business together.

Two years later, the company expanded into the US, with its model of providing low-calorie, pre-packaged meals, as well as one-on-one support from a coach. And the rest is history.

According to Jenny Craig’s LinkedIn, the self-titled “masters in weight management” have over 500 locations across Australia, New Zealand, and North America. 

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But a lot has changed since 1983. Most notably society’s attitudes towards weight loss and what it means to be healthy. Sure, leotards may be back in fashion, but counting the kilos isn’t. 

“There’s been a transition to thinking about the whole of you, certainly more so than any number on a scale or any ideal value,” Graeme says. “Those societal norms have changed over time for the better, and I don't really feel that's been captured as well from Jenny Craig.”

There is also a much more empowered generation, looking for more DIY, cost-effective lifestyles – especially amid a cost-of-living crisis that’s often forcing us to choose between where we spend and scrimp. We're also most interested in alternative diets, from wholefoods to plant-based. 

“We don't need to go to just one outlet to seek that desired outcome,” Graeme adds. “There's a lot more ‘serve yourself’ options with a variety of price points, and different ways that you can create health, wellness, and wellbeing, that it opens up so many ideas.”

“One of the struggles for a brand like Jenny Craig is that it's well known and the product itself is something that people have either experienced or they know somebody who has experienced it,” Graeme explains. “Unfortunately, as a result of that, it’s like, ‘I know what it's all about and I’m not interested’.”

Maybe it’s something you or your mum tried, or what your aunt wouldn’t stop talking about. But even with all its famous faces over the years – from Magda Szubanski, Rebel Wilson, and Mel B all fronting Jenny Craig’s campaigns in Australia and some even regretting the partnership – little has changed about how the public view the company. 

As Graeme says, “They’ve done some pretty high-level campaigns with some noteworthy celebrities but, of course, that only goes so far.”