Artist/Maker
Weight Watchers International, Inc.
Weight Watchers Deluxe Food scale
ca. 1980s
Plastic, metal
Overall: 2 1/2 × 4 1/2 × 4 1/2 in. (6.4 × 11.4 × 11.4 cm)
Purchase
2016.22.2
Weight Watchers was created in 1961 in Little Neck, Queens by Jewish housewife Jean Nidetch. Failing to lose and keep off the pounds after trying various diet regimes and pills, she joined a diet clinic sponsored by the New York City Board of Health that combined a sensible diet with regular meetings. After losing 20 pounds, Nidetch contacted several overweight friends and founded a support group. Her weekly meetings quickly took off, and two years later, Weight Watchers International was incorporated.
Branded products have been essential to the Weight Watchers program and its success from its earliest days. By the late 1960s, cookbooks, magazines, frozen dinners, pre-packaged foods, videotapes, and food scales were marketed to help guide food and calorie intake, and to reinforce the sense of membership and community so central to the program’s philosophy.
ClassificationsHOUSEHOLD TOOLS & EQUIPMENT
DescriptionPlastic and metal spring scale; cream body with black and neon pink accents; Weight Watchers logo with pink square on left front; plastic window with pointer, numerical scale, and “DELUX/ FOOD/ SCALE” on right; metal adjustable knob on top.Object NameFood scale
