This GLP-1 drug maker is skipping the hard sell to focus on access and safety

Use of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro has become so widespread that the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that one in eight U.S. adults has tried one. But as pharma giant Eli Lilly—maker of GLP-1 drug Zepbound—has been emphasizing, widespread use of these drugs for cosmetic weight loss has limited access for those who actually need them to treat conditions like type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Ahead of the 2024 Academy Awards, Lilly debuted its ad “Big Night,” which condemned using GLP-1 drugs for quick results by contrasting images of a fleeting, one-night award show with an everyday scene of a person with obesity riding a bus. “People whose health is affected by obesity is the reason we work on these medications,” a narrator says. “It matters who gets them.”

It was bold of Lilly to run the ad before a night when viewers might be inspired by newly slim celebs to explore GLP-1s for quick weight loss themselves—all without selling anything. Lina Polimeni, Eli Lilly’s chief corporate brand officer, explains that “it’s only responsible,” adding that elective, nonapproved use of GLP-1s can be dangerous. “We can’t speak to benefits and risks outside the [target patient] population,” she says.

The educational approach it took with Zepbound is something Lilly is applying widely—evident in recent campaigns about living with obesity and the experience of having Alzheimer’s.

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