I’ve never heard of the Kellogg’s Special K 2 week challenge until yesterday when I watched a Taiwanese variety show. The trend in Asia is beauty = skinny! And being skinny in Asia, such as Hong Kong and Taiwan, is different from North America. Taiwanese variety shows always discuss how celebrities try various unhealthy methods to lose weight. Some say “any methods you can think of, I’ve tried.” One of the most ridiculous methods I’ve heard was that one celebrity would starve for the entire day and eat around midnight when she got off work. Moreover, the kind of food she ate was deep fried whether it was vegetables or meat. Of course, they don’t encourage girls to lose weight that way, but the media always talks about losing weight. 
The girl in the picture is a Taiwanese singer/actress. Her figure is what Asians consider skinny and beautiful. Therefore, I’m not surprised when my friends tell me that they feel like they get unpleasant stares from people around them when they go to China. With this skinny trend going on in Asia, Kellogg’s took advantage of this opportunity and created the Special K Challenge. Their target segment is psychographic based, with variables being self-concept and life-style.
- Self-concept: people who have an ideal image of being skinny and beautiful
- lifestyle: people who live a healthy lifestyle
The Special K Challenge is eating two meals that consists of any Special K cereal, protein shakes or protein meal bars, one normal meal, two Special K snacks and unlimited servings of fruit and vegetables. They claim that one will see the results of weightloss in fourteen days. This challenge has become extremely popular in Taiwan in particular. There are many bloggers who keep track of their process and talk about their results. Moreover, different variety shows also recommend it for weightloss. Reviews of the product are mostly positive as their cereal is tasty, filling, nutritious and low-calorie.