Effective obesity advocacy and GLP marketing trends are woefully out of alignment.
The Hims ad reached a billion captive people (half of which would likely benefit from anti-obesity medicine) while simultaneously appealing to the lowest common denominator. And they did it rather effectively. They’re up 70% + in just the last 30 days.
Hims attempted to distance itself from diet culture while simultaneously embracing the tired and rotten pillars of diet culture: guilt and shame.
The best part, however, were the colorful sprinkles they added on top of their diet culture donut, harkening back to “the broken system”. Oh, and btw, the remedy to the broken system? Hims. As if another industry siphoning astonishing margins off of disease, is the solution to a system already built on profits over patients.
There is a way to speak to the diet culture trained mind, which is nearly everyone outside our space, while also guiding them toward a new way of thinking. A message that finally speaks the truth. A message that acknowledges obesity as a disease worthy of treatment. People living with obesity are literally starving for this message.
It can be done better… The key is balancing selling the medicine with selling the mindset. WW tried to do this, and spent what little was left of their brand capital on trying to do so. The problem is WW is the embodiment of diet culture. It’s baked into their name! Oprah spent years beating herself up for her weight, and became a cultural and business icon it by marinating the entire culture in it. Who can blame her? Her struggles were nationally televised every weekday at 4 p.m. for 25 years! Oprah and WW’s past failures shouldn’t be an indictment on the message, however. It’s an indictment of the messengers.
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