Biggest Loser Brand Wins Despite NY Times Expose

Most reality television shows consider it a success simply to be rewarded with a second season. Not The Biggest Loser. The NBC show is a reality weight-loss competition, on national TV in the US, that pits morbidly obese contestants against one another for a huge cash prize -- the underlying, feel-good real prize, of course, being their improved health. And the show has exploded with brand extensions.

But will recent negative news hurt the show, and thus, the brand?

The feel-good melodrama of the show, its relentless sentimentality, has made The Biggest Loser a programming hit -- not to mention a growing health-and-fitness consumer brand that generates an estimated $100 million per year. There are Biggest Loser drink mixes, exercise balls, cook books and much more. There is even the Biggest Loser Club, a sort of social media site for the health and weight-loss conscious.

The success of this empire -- the show itself and all the branded products -- depends upon the perception that it is a success. That is to say, people believe in the Biggest Loser brand because they believe the show's narrative. So what happens when a major news story reveals the show to be a little less than forthright?

One of the first-ever, so inside looks at the show, a New York Times profile last week revealed that some contestants have regained all of the weight they lost on the show. Of course, these "success stories" never make it back onto the show's frequent "follow up" segments with former contestants. Maybe even more damaging is the revelation that some contests lost some of their weight through basic starvation techniques (despite the show's public focus on healthy techniques). The Times' report was widely distributed and discussed on blogs.

But in the anything-to-be-thin world of weight loss, the Times piece might have inadvertently strengthened the Biggest Loser brand. The report acknowledges that only a fraction of contestants relapse and gave the show's producer a platform for a "tough love" defense of the harsher tactics, which many of the show's loyalists consider an important part of successful weight loss.

The Times story represents an urban, affluent sensibility far removed from that of The Biggest Loser's core audience, and therefore may not cause much damage with them. The Biggest Loser brand is built on a feeling of trust within a social unit that shares everything. Unless and until a contestant the audience knows comes forward with a weepy first-person tell-all about the show's (and brand's) failings, outside criticism probably isn't going to hurt the brand too much.

It is also noteworthy that Biggest Loser is also a product placement monster, featuring everything from granola bars to plastic storage bags to water purification systems. And however goes the Biggest Loser's brand reputation, so goes these peripheral brands.