Celebrities are real people. They go to the grocery store (unless their assistant goes for them), drive cars (if their driver has the day off), and their weight fluctuates.

Diet companies have a recent history of corralling celebrities into being their spokespeople, but is this the best marketing strategy? People who see a celebrity as a diet spokesperson believe that they “know” the person who is losing weight right in front of them. So what happens when this known person gains the weight back?

We all remember Kirstie Alley‘s shining moment on Oprah as she danced around in her bathing suit after her weight loss on Jenny Craig. Jenny Craig gave her the boot when she gained her weight back and she was back on Oprah, this time with conservative dress and a solemn look on her face.

Notorious yo-yo dieter Carnie Wilson was the spokesdieter for The Fresh Diet and had a successful start with a 20 pound weight-loss.

“She dropped, like, 20 pounds in the first three months. Then she, I mean, she had to go off of it. There’s no question. She might have eaten the meals, but she ate the meals with a lot of other stuff. She started a cheesecake company.” Zalmi Duchman, chief executive for Fresh Diets, said.

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Joining the ranks of such celebrities as Kirstie Alley, Queen Latifah and Valerie Bertinelli, Jason Alexander has signed on to become the newest spokesperson for the Jenny Craig diet plan. Arguably best known for his role as George Costanza on the long running sitcom Seinfeld, Alexander was disturbed when he saw himself on screen recently. While taping a “Seinfeld” reunion to be shown on the hit show Curb Your Enthusiasm, he realized that he put on more weight than he wanted. His goal is to lose 30-40 pounds.

“It’s always been the same old story,” Alexander said in a statement about his previous attempts at dieting. ”The first 10 lbs were gone in a jiff, but then Bamm!. Back again, and this time, they’re back with a vengeance — they even brought friends.”

Of his decision to try Jenny Craig, the former Kentucky Fried Chicken spokesman went on to say “It was a deadly combination of I’m fat and they work.”
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