By: Katie Karlson and Madeline Darby
Super Bowl commercials have been a cultural phenomenon for years. However, this year, one commercial sparked widespread controversy and a heated debate about the country’s obesity crisis.
At first glance, the Hims & Hers commercial addresses valid national health concerns, starting with an introduction to obesity as America’s deadliest epidemic. The commercial incorporates statistics highlighting that 74% of Americans are overweight and that obesity leads to half a million deaths each year.
Hims & Hers promotes its compounded GLP-1s weight loss drug as a solution. However, this class of drugs is not FDA-approved, has been proven to cause adverse side effects and “may pose a risk to patients.” Consumers can get the drug after a simple telehealth visit with licensed providers through Hims & Hers, making the drug appear deceptively harmless. Hims & Hers is just one of many telehealth companies that capitalizes on the loophole allowing compounded pharmacies to distribute their own versions of drugs when the brand names run out of supply.
The National Football League should not have allowed advertisements promoting non-FDA-approved drugs and misleading information to air. As an organization committed to professional sports, which is strongly associated with wellness and fitness, it has an obligation to provide accurate health information and look out for the estimated 126 million Super Bowl viewers.
This year’s advertisers paid, on average, $8 million for a 30-second ad. These ad spots are some of the most sought after due to their unmatched reach and the opportunity to showcase products to a diverse and engaged audience. The NFL has committed money and partnered with organizations promoting health and wellness across America, but ironically also promotes drugs that have the opposite effect.
Partnership for Safe Medicines Executive Director Shabbir Imber Safdar asked the FDA to stop the commercial from airing. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin and Republican Senator Roger Marshall sent similar letters expressing concerns that the commercial “risks misleading patients.” Durbin and Marshall were concerned about the lack of side effect or safety disclosures in the commercial. The company argued that it was not a drug manufacturer and did not need to follow the same standards of disclosure and advertising.
About 100,000 people are currently subscribed to the brand’s weight loss program, which offers these compound drugs at a significantly reduced price compared to brand name alternatives. According to a 2022 survey conducted by Advocado, 50% of people surveyed “purchased a product or service based” on a Super Bowl ad. The NFL had a responsibility to its large Super Bowl viewer base not to promote unsafe drugs or misleading commercials, but knowingly did so anyway.
These drug concerns are not the only issues with the commercial. The Hims & Hers advertisement directly attacked the American healthcare system, saying, “Something is broken, and it’s not our bodies. It’s the system,” before proceeding to promote exactly what they argued is wrong with the system in the first place.
They criticize the system for keeping people “sick and stuck,” featuring a visual of Froot Loops as a nod to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, which advocates for cleaner ingredients and seeks to dismantle brands such as Kellogg’s for using artificial food dyes. Instead of confronting the U.S. food industry that sells us poison for profit, the brand exploits the issue by promoting an unregulated, under-researched, and unapproved drug as a quick fix, capitalizing on the national health crisis.
The commercial is not only ironic and self-contradictory but also promotes a “future of healthcare” that could potentially be unsafe for millions of Americans. National broadcast networks need to be held accountable for the advertisements they air during one of the most watched events on television. Subjecting millions of Americans to unapproved drugs marketed as a quick, affordable fix to a widespread health care crisis is not acceptable and should have never been approved.