An Ounce of Prevention

The diet itself isn’t a scam — but the marketing around it sure is. The sensational claims and aggressive e-mail campaign play on the public’s deep desire for a quick fix and expose Prevention’s apparent belief that it can slap a new face onto an old idea and simply exclamation-point its malleable readers into buying — and buying into — it. And it probably can. But at what cost? Googling a little more deeply, I found a whole lot of folks who feel that Prevention sullied its good rep by inundating its readers with these clearly over-the-top claims. No, you can’t sell a magazine by proclaiming month after month, “No New News! Eating Right and Exercising Still the Key to Good Health!” But come on. There has to be a happy medium.