Weight Watchers Kurbo app for kids promotes diet culture: advocates – INSIDERFacebook IconYouTube iconInstagram iconSearch iconClose iconFacebook IconYouTube iconInstagram iconFacebook IconLink iconEmail iconFliboard iconTwitter iconPinterest iconMore iconClose iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconChevron iconClose iconCheck mark iconFacebook IconYouTube iconInstagram icon

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A small but passionate group of protesters gathered in front of Weight Watchers’ NYC headquarters.
Gabby Landsverk
  • WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers, launched a “healthy eating” app for kids in August, prompting backlash from parents, nutritionists, and people recovering from eating disorders.
  • Balance, an eating disorder recovery center, has led the charge with the hashtag #WakeUpWeightWatchers.
  • Protesters gathered at WW’s NYC headquarters Sept. 13 to raise awareness of the harms caused by diet culture. Here’s what they had to say.
  • Visit INSIDER’s homepage for more stories.

WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers, came under fire in August when it launched a controversial “healthy eating” app for kids as young as 8.

Called Kurbo Health, the app is based on research from Stanford University’s Pediatric Weight Control Program, and uses a “traffic light” system to categorize foods’ health. The company says it’s intended to help children manage weight by developing healthy habits.

On September 13th, a dozen people gathered in front of WW’s New York City headquarters to protest the Kurbo app. The event was led by Balance Eating Disorder Treatment Center, which had previously protested WW in 2018 when the company launched a promotion offering free memberships to teenagers.

The treatment center has said it believes the company is trying to profit off the insecurity of children and their parents, promoting unhealthy attitudes toward food by encouraging calorie-tracking and stigmatizing high-calorie foods like avocados, nuts, and dairy as “red light” items to be limited.

Read more: Weight Watchers made a ‘healthy eating’ app for kids. Experts say it could saddle them with serious body image issues.

Gary Foster, the chief science officer at WW, previously told Insider the app is aimed at addressing “extraordinarily high” rates of obesity in the US, and the associated “medical and psychosocial consequences.”

Many of the people who protested the app said they have a personal history with the harms of dieting culture, including recovery from eating disorders. Here’s what they had to say.

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Rebecca Yellin is studying to be a dietitian. She was inspired to study nutrition after a dietitian helped her recover from an eating disorder.

Gabby Landsverk

“It’s not just kids. We all need to build a better relationship to food,” said Yellin.

She said the Kurbo app’s “stoplight” system — which ranks foods as red, yellow or green based on how frequently you should eat them — teaches kids to associate guilt with certain foods.

“That kind of restrictive mentality creates a binge cycle. You restrict certain foods, then binge on them and feel guilt and shame, and it repeats,” she said.

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Megan Madsen is an intern at the Balance Center. She’s organizing efforts to raise awareness of what she said is WW’s harmful messaging toward kids.

Gabby Landsverk

“If I didn’t work for Balance, I wouldn’t have known about it, and I wish more people knew,” she said. “This app is forcing children to fixate on their body image, on calories, things they shouldn’t have to fixate on.”

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Mary Hoey said she showed up to protest WW to help “make a dent in diet culture.”

Gabby Landsverk

“Kids shouldn’t be on diets, no one should be on diets,” Hoey said.

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Ash Spencer and Ryan Kelly said the app for kids is “infuriating.”

Ash Spencer, 23, and Ryan Kelly, 23, Brooklyn
Gabby Landsverk

“I’ve been angry about WW in the past, but it’s infuriating that they’re profiting off of children’s insecurity,” Spencer said. “People don’t know that this is going on, and how dieting can impact kids for the rest of their lives.”

Ryan Kelly had previously gone to Balance Eating Disorder Treatment Center for treatment, and doesn’t believe Weight Watchers’ rebrand as a wellness company is an improvement on what he believes is the company’s fixation on dieting and weight.

“It’s b-lls–t,” Kelly said. “It’s still just about weight loss.”

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Diet culture doesn’t make people healthier — it just keeps people dieting, said Sari Dana.

Gabby Landsverk

“Kids have a natural instinct about how to eat well, if we just leave them alone and let kids be kids,” said Dana. She showed up to protest to help shift the paradigm away from dieting pressure, and said she herself has struggled on various diets, including Weight Watchers, since age 14.

Dana works with kids, and said she’s seen firsthand the intense social pressure they face to fit an ideal body type.

“This kind of system creates obsession around food that lasts a lifetime,” she said. “Dieting just causes more dieting, and you never get out of that system.”

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