The pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly slammed Hollywood’s obsession with Ozempic in a commercial released Thursday, ahead of the Oscars, criticizing people who have taken the weight loss drug for “vanity,” without an obesity diagnosis.
“Some people have been using medicine never meant for them, for the smaller dress or tux, for a big night, for vanity,” a voiceover says in the Eli Lilly ad, while a glittery gold dress is laid out in one scene and a man rolls out a red carpet in another.
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“But that’s not the point. People whose health is affected by obesity are the reason we work on these medications. It matters who gets them,” the company added in its commercial released just days before the 96th Academy Awards.
Notably, Eli Lilly is the company behind tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Zepbound, which was recently approved to treat obesity.
In recent months, many people have come to know Zepbound’s competitor, semaglutide, which is manufactured by Novo Nordisk and better known by its brand name Ozempic. The drug is meant for people who have diabetes but is now being used for weight loss.
“We understand the people who need these medicines, and this is why we made them,” James Zervios, vice president and chief of staff for the Obesity Action Coalition, told USA Today. “Let’s get serious about what these medicines are for.”
Fat activists, meanwhile, are offended all around.
“It feels sneaky to me. It feels insidious,” Tigress Osborn, executive director of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, told the outlet. “I need more than one commercial to make me start trusting that Eli Lilly is genuinely interested in what’s best for me.”
While this new weight loss drugs is meant for patients diagnosed with obesity, which affects about 42 percent of adults in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the pharmaceutical company fails to address a much more glaring solution: a lifestyle change and healthy eating.
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