Hims & Hers markets itself in a very 2025 way: by picking a fight

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When a brand goes negative, it’s usually with a claim that a competitor is somehow inferior. In its recent Super Bowl ad, the telehealth provider Hims & Hers went on the attack against something bigger: “the system.” Promoting a weight-loss drug positioned as a cheaper Ozempic alternative, the spot dings Big Pharma, and the healthcare industry more generally, as motivated by “profits not patients.” The ad sparked backlash before it even aired, and the buzz has lingered beyond the big game, fueled partly by criticism from the pharmaceutical business and prominent politicians, among others.

In other words, the brand channeled some of the most anti-establishment vibes darkening the 2025 zeitgeist as a way to make a splash—and it seems to be working.

The short-term payoff may seem limited. Hims & Hers is pushing a cheaper, “compounded” version of semaglutide, the Novo Nordisk drug sold as Wegovy and Ozempic, which have become blockbusters for their weight-loss effects. (Ozempic can cost in excess of $1,000 a month without insurance, while the compounds can cost $200 or less; Hims & Hers doesn’t break out revenue from compounds, but has indicated its broader weight-loss category has grown at a rapid clip and is estimated to reach annual revenue of $100 million by the end of this year.) Compounded-drug versions are permitted when regulators deem a marketplace shortage of an original (patented) drug. Wegovy and Ozempic are currently on that list—and their creator, Novo Nordisk, has acknowledged that compounding is affecting its business—but the drugmaker says it has increased its supply, which will eventually curtail Hims & Hers from selling its copycat.

But even when that spike of interest (and presumably sales) runs its course, the company best known for erectile dysfunction, hair-loss, and other treatments has raised its profile to more than just a modern alt-wellness brand. Now it’s positioning itself as a righteous underdog battling a rigged system on behalf of everyday folk.

The actual spot is remarkable for its largely grim and confrontational tone. With Childish Gambino’s brooding anthem as the soundtrack, it quick-cuts through sometimes jarring images to describe an obesity epidemic that “leads to half a million deaths each year.” A narrator declares: “Something is broken.” With nods to fattening foods, social media, and pricey drug treatments, it continues, “The system wasn’t built to help us. It was built to keep us sick and stuck.” The final pivot is to Hims & Hers, with its affordable “doctor-trusted” treatments, “formulated in the USA” as part of a custom treatment plan. People smile and brandish med vials as the narration concludes: “Join us in the fight for a healthy America.”

While a rebel pose is a venerable brand trope, it’s a bit jarring to see it deployed so starkly with healthcare as its target. But maybe it shouldn’t be. Years of healthcare consumer frustrations have been a prelude to a year that’s already seen a vaccine skeptic confirmed as the head of Health and Human Services, and the alleged killer of a major healthcare executive treated by some as a folk hero. Politically, vows to fight and smash “the system” (any system) have never been more prominent.

Critics of the ad charged that its (very) small-type disclaimer that the compound-drug versions Hims & Hers offers are not FDA approved was misleading and potentially dangerous. (Brand-name drugs and official generics are more stringently regulated.) They also complained that the ad did not mention potential side effects.

The Partnership for Safe Medicines, a nonprofit group focused on pharmaceutical safety, wrote Super Bowl broadcaster Fox a detailed letter urging the network not to air the ad. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a drug-industry-lobbying firm, said the ad “misrepresents the safety and efficacy” of “knockoff” products. Senators Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, and Roger Marshall, a Republican from Kansas, asked the FDA to look into the matter. Numerous media outlets covered the controversy. And Novo Nordisk retaliated with print ads emphasizing the weaker regulation—and past problems—around compounds, asking: “Do you really know what you’re injecting into your body?”

Hims & Hers is not the only company in the health space to respond to the semaglutide shortage, and it’s not wrong about the prohibitive cost of brand-name versions. But its tone has been unusual, waving away all charges and critiques as not just fake news but, in effect, evidence of persecution. “We’ve called out the system, and now the system is asking that our ad get taken down,” a spokesperson commented; its site touts “the ad Big Pharma doesn’t want you to see.” And the company’s share price is up about 15% since just before the Super Bowl, giving it a valuation of more than $10 billion. Hims & Hers may be taking risks and pushing the regulatory envelope, but antagonizing authority doesn’t seem to be a side effect of its strategy, it’s the prescription.