health

Weight Watchers Gets Ad Injunction Vs. Curves

Curves

The battle of the bulge is getting increasingly litigious.

Weight Watchers International, Inc. today announced that the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has issued a preliminary injunction restraining Curves International, Inc. from airing or otherwise disseminating Curves' commercial called "Something New."

The court order is a "stipulated" preliminary injunction, meaning that the two parties stipulated their agreement to it, a Weight Watchers PR agency spokesperson tells Marketing Daily.

The injunction bars Curves International Inc. and its franchisees from "airing, broadcasting, publishing or disseminating" in the U.S. the commercial titled "Something New" in "any form or in any version or in any medium" (including but not limited to television, cable television, print and the Internet) "during the pendency of this action." The next court date in the suit has not yet been set, according to the Weight Watchers spokesperson.

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The court action, dated March 1, comes out of a suit originally filed by Weight Watchers in Manhattan federal court last October, charging the international fitness chain Curves with false advertising, trademark infringement and other causes of action. The principal charge was that Curves "used the Weight Watchers trademarks to garner consumer attention and divert consumers to purchase Curves' services as part of a 'bait and switch' advertising tactic," according to the Weight Watchers release.

Last September, Curves launched a campaign promoting itself as both a diet and fitness solution, highlighting its new 30-day diet plan. The "Something New" commercial, run on national cable TV networks, shows a woman who is heading toward a Weight Watchers location being intercepted by a van full of women who instead transport her to a nearby Curves location, where she is informed about the new diet plan and shown signing up for Curves. The message conveyed by the interceptors: "Weight Watchers? Oh, no, girl, you're going to try something new."

The campaign, which marked the first time Curves had taken a head-to-head approach against a competitor in its advertising, also included online, radio and print components, Adweek reported last September.

In response to the injunction announcement, Curves International, Inc. president Mike Raymond sent Marketing Daily the following statement: "Contrary to what Weight Watchers has claimed, the injunction does nothing to validate their claims. Rather, Curves agreed to the injunction in good faith to give Weight Watchers and Curves an opportunity to discuss their differences regarding this commercial. Curves strongly disagrees that there has been any violation of Weight Watchers' trademark rights or that the advertising was in any way misleading. We fully expect to win our case and look forward to the trial."

On Jan. 19 of this year, Weight Watchers also announced that it had filed a suit against competitor Jenny Craig, Inc., again in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

That suit seeks to prohibit Jenny Craig from continuing its campaign, launched in late December '09, which includes a TV ad featuring Jenny Craig spokesperson Valerie Bertinelli stating that a "major clinical trial" showed Jenny Craig clients losing, on average, over twice as much weight as those on "the largest weight-loss program" -- a reference to Weight Watchers, according to Weight Watchers' suit. The suit also seeks damages.

Weight Watchers charged that Jenny Craig's campaign "seeks to mislead and deceive consumers into believing Jenny Craig's claims are based on a head-to-head scientific study comparing Weight Watchers current weight-loss program and Jenny Craig's pre-packaged meals system," WW's lawsuit announcement stated. "No such study was done or exists and the claims made in these ads are not supported by fact or science."

In a statement supplied to Bloomberg.com in response to the Weight Watchers suit, Jenny Craig CEO Patti Larchet said that her company "is confident in our comparative claim, and we do not believe a head-to-head challenge is required to prove the effectiveness of the Jenny Craig Weight Loss Program." She added: "If Weight Watchers chose to pursue such a challenge, we would gladly welcome the opportunity to participate."

Last September, Weight Watchers also sued Nestlé, charging that the Skinny Cow brand of Nestlé's Dreyer's ice cream division had used the Weight Watchers trademark on Web sites and packaging of diet frozen foods and desserts, Bloomberg reported.

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