Weight Watchers — or WW, as it's officially known, following a 2018 rebrand — released a new weight-control app last week, aimed at children 8 to 17.
The app, called Kurbo, was rolled out on Aug. 13. The organization is billing Kurbo as "a scientifically-proven behavior change program" aimed at changing young peoples' eating and exercise habits, but almost immediately came the charges that Weight Watchers is preying on kids and enabling eating disorders.
"Everything about it really kind of horrifies me and disgusts me," Lisa Rutledge, a registered dietician, told CJAD 800's Dave Kaufman this week. "And the fact that they come out defending this after hearing many organizations around the world speak up against it makes it even more of a bizarre situation."
When you sign up with Kurbo, you choose one of several goals: eat healthier, lose weight, make your parents happy, get stronger and fitter, have more energy, boost confidence or feel better in your clothes. It then tracks everything that kids eat, using a so-called "traffic light system" — dividing foods into red, yellow, and green, based on how supposedly healthy they are. Weight Watchers also provides one-on-one coaching, for a fee.
The app is modeled after programs that already exist for adults, but Rutledge says, something like this can be especially harmful for impressionable youth.
"It's encouraging stunted growth, and messing up hormones, and messing up people's relationship with food and body," Rutledge says.
"I think they were gearing [Kurbo] as something that the parent could be involved with, and something to do together," says Robin Glance, a nutritionist, in conversation with CJAD 800's Robyn Flynn. "However, without professional guidance, it really can be complicated, and a child as young as 8, using this device on their own, can be a little dangerous."
A Change.org petition calling for the app's outright removal has earned more than 80,000 signatures.
"Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness," wrote the petition's creator, Holly Stallcup. "Every 62 minutes at least one person dies as a direct result from an eating disorder. This app will literally kill people."