Asterisk

So I am, as usual, enjoying the heck out of my O magazine. And then I get to page 129 in the April issue, which incidentally has the theme, "beauty." It's a Jenny Craig ad with a really wonderful picture of Kirstie Alley showing off her admirable weight loss in a pale gold slip dress.

Here's what the text says:
I've lost 60 pounds* (and still counting).

Now maybe I'm the only person in America who cares about that asterisk, but I zeroed in on it right away. Don't mess with my editor's eye. Down in the right corner of the page it says, "*Results not typical."

Say what? Then why the hell put her out there like she is? Why isn't she typical? What is she doing differently? If she's losing more weight on the plan than most people or at a faster rate, shouldn't consumers get the whole picture?

I'm all for people losing weight and getting healthy. I wish Kirstie Alley nothing but the best. But I vehemently object to half truths when convincing people you are an example.

Not cool.