The Miseducation of Weight Loss

Fast food and rising scales flashed before the eyes of millions of Americans tuning in to this year's Super Bowl as a narrator ranted about the devastating exploitation of the nation's weight loss system. The ad quickly became the center of a media frenzy surrounding the hypocrisy and harmful rhetoric of the messaging. 

The ad, made by the American Telehealth company Hims & Hers, opens by saying that the $160 billion weight-loss industry “feeds on our failure.” It avoids, however, substantive conversation about poor nutritional options available in the U.S. It could be argued that they attempted to make this point through the imagery and language present, but they ultimately fell short. Instead, the advertisement argues that there are “medications that work,” yet are not priced fairly for the average American. While it’s true the medical industry has been unapologetically cashing in on the virality of products like Ozempic - a prescription medication used to treat type 2 diabetes, slow digestion, and accelerate weight loss - it’s not a free pass for companies to use manipulative, anti-establishment language in order to promote their own cheaper alternative. 

In defense of Hims and Hers, their product is indeed much more affordable than Ozempic.  Brand name Ozempic can run someone upwards of $1000 monthly, while Hims and Hers offers their alternative product for only $200. It is also likely more accessible, as stock of the original product has been depleting rapidly. Yet both options remain expensive alternatives to self-confidence and body positivity. The advertisement critiques the for-profit model that weight loss supplements like themselves benefit from. According to the company’s quarterly fiscal reports, though, their monthly revenue has increased 50% from previous years since they began offering compounded weight-loss medications. 

While profit is definitely within the playbook of most companies breaking into the health market, not all actors within this field have as much to gain. Images of celebrity transformations due to weight loss drugs have become increasingly popular in the last year. Large swaths of young people have looked up to these transformations, with many not fully understanding the risks behind performing similar actions on themselves. Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa are prominent health concerns for teens and young adults, with many attributing their struggles to social media. Platforms like Tumblr have become notorious for promoting eating disorders through niche internet aesthetics, trends, and, most notably, influencers of the early 2010s. Back in Tumblr’s heyday, thinness was fetishized, with images of emaciated collarbones, frail bodies touted as feminine, and “thinspo” captioned with quotes such as “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”

These disturbing behaviors have made their way into the modern social media landscape in ways that present themselves in a much more positive light. “What I eat in a day” videos are accompanied by rigid 5AM workout routines that tend to focus on full-body cardio and abdomen sculpting. The popular belief that this kind of content is not harmful in promoting unhealthy behavior is simply outlandish. “Gym-girl,” and in many ways, “gym-bro,” subspaces of TikTok subtly reinforce that being thin equates to being better. Because these influencers spin their methods as “fitness,” “clean eating,” or “self-discipline,” many young people are tricked into believing that the same methodology will work for them and their personal fitness goals.

The problem with these videos is similar to that of the ad; expectations are unrealistic, and oftentimes, rather dangerous. Many “low-calorie” meals seen on TikTok lack basic nutritional value and are in no way specialized to a user's personal lifestyle. This blind acceptance of someone else’s habits means that the risk of developing eating disorders is often blurred. The Hims & Hers Super Bowl ad utilizes the same insecurities it claims to condemn, positioning its own product as superior within a system it simultaneously critiques. The rise of new-age solutions—whether it be prescription medications or social media-fueled fitness trends—continues to blur the lines between empowerment and exploitation.

The issue here is less about access to weight loss treatments and more about the broader cultural obsession with achieving an idealized body type at any cost. Until there is a shift in how society defines health and self-worth, industries will continue to find ways to monetize insecurities, and consumers will be left spiraling through a landscape where the line between genuine wellness and commercial manipulation remains dangerously thin.

Sources:

NYT - Ozempic Is Hard to Find. Some Pharmacies Are Offering Unauthorized Alternatives. (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/16/well/live/ozempic-alternatives-semaglutide.html)

NYT - Millions Will See This Super Bowl Ad. Health Experts (and Two Senators) Aren’t Pleased  (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/07/well/hims-hers-health-super-bowl-ad.html_)

Anorexia on Tumblr: A Characterization Study (http://www.munmund.net/pubs/dh15.pdf)