I’ve heard and read a few reports about Oprah admitting that she currently weighs around 200lbs and is very disappointed with herself for getting back up to that weight.  (I’m not criticizing -  as much as I’ve yo-yo’d through the years I can’t criticize anyone for gaining or losing weight)

I saw this ad on yahoo today for Oprah’s diet and thought that was an odd celebrity to base a diet on right now. Then I remembered that this ad is all over facebook advertising as well.

Is anchoring a diet to Oprah a good strategy?  Is her name alone enough to drive sales even if she is on the high end of the yo-yo at the moment?

If she loses weight again and uses another diet do you lose your fad diet credibility?

I thought about all these things and then I clicked the link which took me here. This is a “mom blog” who is linking (via paid referrals I’m sure) to products to sell this stuff. Since it’s multi-level she doesn’t really have her own brand and is trying to leverage Oprah’s name into selling her stuff.  If this mom really exists.

In a time when fake blogs abound – the obvious questions pop out at me – Is there really a Tina Collins, and is she really a mom who lost weight on this diet?

I’m skeptical. This site was started in October, has a bunch of fake looking comments and looks intentionally bad.  I hope I’m wrong.  Regardless if Tina is real or not – Marketing like this makes me feel like I’m being lied to. Good marketing shouldn’t do that.

Dear readers – let’s all agree to never fake it (no fake blogs, no fake moms, etc.).  I think the industry as a whole will be better for it.