Once again, Eli Lilly is using Hollywood’s biggest night as a platform to speak out on a hot-button issue in pharma.
Throughout last year’s entertainment awards season, Lilly took aim at the popular off-label use of GLP-1 drugs like its Mounjaro and Zepbound for cosmetic weight loss. A commercial released right around the 2024 Academy Awards included imagery that seemed to nod to the event, while warning that using the meds “for vanity” is “not the point.”
This year’s Oscars will be the launchpad for another Lilly ad about another hot topic. A 30-second film slated to air during Sunday’s award show warns against the use of counterfeit or compounded drugs, which aren’t subject to FDA oversight the same way as branded prescription drugs.
The commercial starts with a chorus of voices—meant to represent trusted advisors: friends, family, beloved podcast hosts—nudging a viewer who’s feeling “big,” anxious or tired toward an off-brand drug. Their recommendation is “all natural,” untested and doesn’t require a prescription, and “those government regulators have no hand in it—they don’t even want you to know.”
“Trust me, bro,” they say in unison, before the screen switches to Lilly’s signature red hue. A series of messages onscreen note that real, tested, trialed and approved medicine “doesn’t need your faith,” and the ad ends with a final message encouraging viewers to “be a healthy skeptic.”
In addition to the short film, the “Healthy Skepticism” campaign includes full-page print ads that’ll be placed in national publications this week and next. The ads emphasize the importance of being skeptical and asking questions, especially in the field of science.
“Real medicine makers don’t just welcome skepticism. It’s our entire process. Because skepticism is essential for health,” one reads in part.
The first spread arrived in Friday’s issue of the Wall Street Journal, to be followed by a placement in The New York Times on Oscars Sunday. After the big event, additional ads will run in Hollywood-adjacent outlets next week, including The Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Reporter and People magazine, a Lilly spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Pharma Marketing.
In a recent interview about another short film that went live during this year’s Grammy Awards and was aimed at improving early breast cancer detection, Lina Polimeni, Lilly’s chief corporate brand officer, discussed the company’s strategy of tying awareness campaigns to major cultural events.
The strategy focuses on two core criteria, Polimeni told Fierce Pharma Marketing. The first is about maximizing viewership: “When we have messages of this importance, for us, it’s very important they get to as many people as possible,” she said.
The other seeks to align Lilly’s brand and messaging with “key cultural conversations,” she said, adding that it’s “a matter of making sure that certain conversations happen in the right moment.”
Compounded drugs, and particularly off-brand versions of GLP-1 medicines, have been a major topic of discussion in recent weeks.
Ahead of the Super Bowl, Hims & Hers debuted a commercial that promoted its weight-loss program, which includes access to compounded semaglutide, in lieu of other companies’ medications that are “priced for profits, not patients.”
The criticism was swift, with many taking issue with the ad’s lack of information about the reduced regulations on compounded versions of drugs. The day after the Super Bowl, semaglutide maker Novo Nordisk took out a full-page ad in USA Today and the New York Times highlighting the potential risks of taking compounded versions of the drug.
Lilly’s new campaign doesn’t single out GLP-1s. When asked about the specific target of the campaign, the spokesperson told Fierce Pharma Marketing, “We are referring to both compounded products and any products that are marketed like medicine, reference medicine, and even sound like medicine, but are not held to the same scientific standards or safety measures as tested, trialed and approved medicine.”
The rep pointed to a Lilly webpage offering visitors information about “the risks of counterfeit and compounded medicine” plus a tool to help verify whether a Mounjaro or Zepbound package is legitimate.