Wii Fit Tries To Get Moms To See Weight Loss As A Game

Nintendo, known for its hip marketing image and lightening-fast, testosterone laden games has decided to reach out to women with a new weight loss “game” - Wii Fit -in a manner completely out of touch with the heart of the brand. Targeted to "moms" and "women who want to lose weight," its a sort of balance board that hooks into the existing system (that you either already own or plan to buy) and allows you to do yoga, aerobics (yes, aerobics) and other fitness activities while measuring your progress on a big TV screen – whenever you can wrestle the Wii away from your kids. Go to the website and its like looking at a cheery family ad circa 1977 (the dad in the first screen shot is particularly hilarious) with music that I would never have imagined I would hear on a Nintendo site, or anywhere outside a supermarket. Contrast these wholesome, if outdated, images with the ad campaign featured in this Wall Street Journal article, which is centered around a hottie Lindsay Lohan look-alike. Um, excuse me, who exactly is the target audience here and what is the message? Even the Wii guys would have no idea what to do in this Brady-Bunch-Meets-TMZ-It-Girl world. When the brand struggles with its message, you can bet the consumer will too. The worst part is how unthought out and slapped together it appears. The copy on the website even says "name not final" in parenthesis after the balance board description. Maybe they'd accept "payment not final" from those women willing to give it a go...