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Monday Mini: The Messy World of Weight Loss Advertising · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and what coome of stuff?
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told you prediction if I hurt with you?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: And for today's Monday Mini, we are tackling one tiny
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: piece of a huge, huge topic. All right, So disclaimer,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: this is not an episode about weight loss medication or
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: in this case, compounded GLP ones. That is a much
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: bigger episode than a Monday Mini. But today I did
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: want to talk about the absolute onslaught of ads I
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: have been getting for them, which is just not great
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: for my mental health, to be honest with you, could
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  Speaker 1: really not use that my life, that would be best
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  Speaker 1: for me. And also a lot of these ads are
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  Speaker 1: very very targeted towards women. I think in one of
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: these ads as a woman called herself a fat freak.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Oh wow, yeah, so I guess.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Content warning that phobim I actually saw that one today,
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  Speaker 1: all right. So briefly, glp ones are drugs primarily used
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  Speaker 1: to treat type two diabetes, but a bunch of other things,
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  Speaker 1: but primarily for that. But in the past few years
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  Speaker 1: they have become a popular quote off brand use as
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  Speaker 1: a weight loss drug, partially led by influencers and celebrities,
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  Speaker 1: and has caused a shortage and an inability to get
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  Speaker 1: these drugs for people who needed it for diabetes. That's
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: something we'll dig into in our whole episode and is
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  Speaker 1: from what I understand, mostly stabilized, although the pricing has
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  Speaker 1: not stabilized. One in eight adults say they have taken
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  Speaker 1: one as of last year. I believe most new users
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  Speaker 1: an emphasis on new, are white women, and some surveys
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  Speaker 1: have found women in our approaching menopause who are only
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: not obese. However, young people are a close runner up.
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  Speaker 1: This is for a lot of reasons, but access is
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  Speaker 1: a big one. Diabetes and obesity is more prevalent in
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  Speaker 1: Hispanic and Black communities, so that is also something we're
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: going to have to tackle in our bigger, her larger episode. Clearly, though,
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  Speaker 1: there was a huge market for these types of drugs
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  Speaker 1: and using them for a weight loss, and new companies
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  Speaker 1: and brands jumped into the pool. And then come the ads,
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  Speaker 1: so so so many ads, and a lot of these
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  Speaker 1: ads contain miss or disinformation, and we did talk about
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  Speaker 1: this briefly in our Cerebral Ads episode, Smantha, but these
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  Speaker 1: ads are misleading in a lot of ways. Several of
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  Speaker 1: these products are not FDA approved, but they portray it
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  Speaker 1: like they are are. They say that they are doctor approved,
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  Speaker 1: which doesn't mean anything legally. By the way, what doctor
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  Speaker 1: sure it does repeper it doesn't mean anything legally. Some
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  Speaker 1: of these products, like gummies our jops, have never been
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  Speaker 1: tested and have absolutely no proof that they work. A
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  Speaker 1: recent study from legit script, which is a company that
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  Speaker 1: works in healthcare product verification, amongst other things, found that
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: between twenty twenty two and twenty twenty four, there was
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  Speaker 1: a twelve hundred percent increase in quote violative are problematic
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  Speaker 1: GLP one ads. This is notably when there was a
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  Speaker 1: shortage of the FDA approved varieties, all these other ones
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  Speaker 1: started showing up. A twenty twenty five survey commissioned by
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the National Consumers League, conducted on fifteen hundred women between
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  Speaker 1: eighteen and fifty five years old, found that eighty five
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  Speaker 1: percent of respondents believed the claims in these ads. Over
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  Speaker 1: half believed the term doctor approved meant that it was
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  Speaker 1: endorsed by medical professionals, which of course they did. In general,
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  Speaker 1: people believed that that they were tested and safe and
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: at pretty high numbers. And to be clear that I
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  Speaker 1: would too like that makes sense, right, if it's telling in.
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  Speaker 3: Say yeah, obviously doctor approved this. That means this FDA approved.
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  Speaker 2: Obviously, Right.
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  Speaker 1: So I don't want to I don't want to sound
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  Speaker 1: like I'm saying they're being foolish or this that if
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  Speaker 1: you see it in an ad, I get it. I
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  Speaker 1: would be like, okay, sure, Yes. In twenty twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: companies that sell these drugs spent one billion dollars in advertising,
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  Speaker 1: which was a fifty one percent increase from the previous year.
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  Speaker 1: So why is this the problem? Apart from the obvious.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps there isn't information about side effects or adverse effects,
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  Speaker 1: and people are spending money, perhaps a lot of money
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  Speaker 1: to get something that has no proof of working and
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  Speaker 1: could potentially cause a health issue. And on top of that,
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  Speaker 1: they may be delaying getting care that has been tested.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe they have another issue that they really need to
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  Speaker 1: look into. There has been a substantial increase in calls
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  Speaker 1: to poison control due to GLP one overdoses because a
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  Speaker 1: lot of them don't aren't clear and how much you
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  Speaker 1: should take. Wow, there's just a lot of shady stuff
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  Speaker 1: going on in how they present themselves. One set, he
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  Speaker 1: found that about half of online sites selling these drugs
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  Speaker 1: or doing it somewhat illegally or unethically half and it's yeah,
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  Speaker 1: to be clear, they promote other things to weight losses,
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  Speaker 1: like the primary thing they promote, but they also say
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  Speaker 1: stuff like hair loss. They'll help with acne or anxiety
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  Speaker 1: or hormonal imbalance, all of these things that they are
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  Speaker 1: promising that again hasn't been tested.
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  Speaker 3: But with the GLP one mm oh, I feel like
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  Speaker 3: weight like hair loss. If you're losing nutrients, you're going
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  Speaker 3: to have hair loss.
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  Speaker 1: Well that's what they are promising. Because right now I'm
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  Speaker 1: getting served two ads back to back, really Mochi and Hers,
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  Speaker 1: and there they both promise it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, here's something I'll yelled at about.
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  Speaker 1: So they did, they did, and I think, yeah, they
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  Speaker 1: are kind of huge backlash. Yes, yeah, they definitely did.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: And I think that what I'm talking about is less them.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: But they're still in the there's still that.
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  Speaker 3: They started really stuff during the super Bowl. What is that?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, absolutely absolutely we remember.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think we didn't remember.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Hers. I will never forget. I didn't even see it,
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  Speaker 2: and it's the live of our brain forever.
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  Speaker 3: Uh.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, the timing of all these ads is very
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  Speaker 1: strategic because they're trying to become the favorite products before
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  Speaker 1: the FDA approval roles in.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Or it gets discounted.
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  Speaker 1: But they're trying to do it before whatever happened, so
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: you're the you're the go to, So they're really pushing that.
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  Speaker 1: I couldn't verify this, but I did find a whole
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  Speaker 1: kind of complaining Reddit thread about these ads because I
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  Speaker 1: was just like, is anybody else inundated with these? And
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  Speaker 1: I've found a whole thread and they were saying that
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: they were getting coupons for a zimpic and their milk
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: kit boxes, oh, milk kit boxes, and that they're on
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  Speaker 1: tender And somebody had kind of like the funniest, saddest comment,
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  Speaker 1: which was like, which is very bad for me in general.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: When it comes to day. Yeah, that's fair.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: They're like, yeah, that makes me not one to date,
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  Speaker 3: but thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, cool. But also here's I kind of briefly mentioned
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  Speaker 1: this in a recent episode. I was trying to verify
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: if it's true. I've ultimately determined even if it's not true,
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  Speaker 1: that at the company behind it still posted it not true,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: being is it like an AI post or something, right,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: but the company is real and uh posted it and
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  Speaker 1: so it is from Willow Health, and it is from
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  Speaker 1: a woman who is quite thin. It's a picture and
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  Speaker 1: it's a post from her that says, weight loss medication
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  Speaker 1: is self care, period, full stop. I hit my goal
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  Speaker 1: weight after losing ten pounds. My health is better and
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  Speaker 1: I finally love the way I look. Just because I
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: didn't waste time in the gym doesn't make it invalid.
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  Speaker 1: There's just a lot I could talk about with this.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: Oh God, yeah, I know what you're talking about. I've
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: seen that ad. I've seen that ad in my games
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  Speaker 3: on my phone. I've seen that ad.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
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  Speaker 3: Oh and giving it giving it towards menopause people actually
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  Speaker 3: makes a lot of sense because as someone who is
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: getting older, I feel like I'm struggling more and more
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  Speaker 3: with the weight loss and like trying to figure out
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  Speaker 3: what I'm trying to do healthy. I'm okay with the
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  Speaker 3: way I look, like I've accepted it. I would not
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  Speaker 3: mind if I lost weight. You know, there's some things
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: that I'm like, Okay, these are the things that I
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: would love to do, But I'm fine as it is.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not going to the extremes yet. Who knows, Like,
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: maybe those as will get me and I'll be like,
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  Speaker 3: I hate it all whatever. But that's exactly they know
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  Speaker 3: that this is a target audience, people who have been
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  Speaker 3: told that they should be insecure and they should fix things. Yes,
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  Speaker 3: I mean it's a target.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
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  Speaker 1: No, they were very, very strategic in doing it that way.
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  Speaker 1: And some of the research I read, a lot of
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  Speaker 1: the women who were in menopause were saying, like, I
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  Speaker 1: do all the things and I'm still losing I'm still
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  Speaker 1: gaining weights. So I don't want to demonize people who
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  Speaker 1: take this kind of medication response, but I really this
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  Speaker 1: is about the advertising.
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  Speaker 3: Right, No, it's definitely what is it called. I feel
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  Speaker 3: like when it's like a targeted but it's such a
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  Speaker 3: like because I've seen it too. I've seen it so
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: my when I've gone to houses and they watch cable TV.
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  Speaker 3: It's either those commercials lawyers, but it's only it's a
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  Speaker 3: lot of medications, including that and about weight loss. But
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  Speaker 3: like it is there constantly on a constant rerun.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, and at least the ones that are served to me,
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  Speaker 1: it's almost all women, and I think in one there's
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: a man that's like, I'm so glad she started taking
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  Speaker 1: it and I was like, oh, like oh, oh my gosh.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: So yeah, we are going to have to come back.
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  Speaker 1: And it's such a huge issue. This was about the advertising.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: There are a couple of things experts are attempting to
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  Speaker 1: do to curb the bad players in advertising realm around
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  Speaker 1: GLP ones. They're trying to counter misinformation, make the tested
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  Speaker 1: stuff more affordable, require brands to be upfront about ingredients
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  Speaker 1: and dosage levels, and changing the conversation and stigma around
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  Speaker 1: women in wage which I'm all for.
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  Speaker 3: But good luck, right, especially because we have gone backwards
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  Speaker 3: because of these types of medications. Saying that it's successible,
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  Speaker 3: there's no reason not to.
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  Speaker 2: Be then yeah, that the price tag maybe, but that's
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  Speaker 2: the thing. It's I get it.
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  Speaker 1: I get it if you really really we've been told
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  Speaker 1: we need to be look a certain way, be the
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  Speaker 1: certain weight, and you can't afford the tested one. You
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  Speaker 1: see one that says doctor approved and it's got ads
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  Speaker 1: on TV.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I get it right.
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  Speaker 3: And there have been like there have been results with ozimbok,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: like true Ozimbuk that has been regulated and has been watched.
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  Speaker 3: But this is like a whole different thing, and like
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: we don't know we don't know a lot of the
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: side effects, and it's slowly coming about and having this conversation,
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  Speaker 3: and there are people who are getting better because they
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: were pretty diabetic, like they are like tested. There's needs obviously,
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: but this conversation about accessibility, this conversation about it being
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: a franchise as well as money maker for corporations who
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  Speaker 3: are evil. Yes, evil, I said evil. That's the whole thing.
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  Speaker 3: This is unethical. Is what is the truth to this
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  Speaker 3: type of miracle diet?
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  Speaker 1: I say yes, And the truth is there is no
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: miracle diet. But we will come back to that. I
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: just had to vent because I was getting.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: All of these.
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  Speaker 1: And we will return. But listeners, if you have any
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: thoughts about this topic as things we should touch on
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: when we do get to our big episode about it,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: please let us know or any other topics you'd like
• 12:58
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