And let me be crystal clear: this is not about policing women’s bodies, especially Black women’s bodies. Serena Williams has every right to make choices for her health, as does any woman. Her body, her choice. The concern is how pharma and wellness marketing are shaping the conversation around women’s health, normalising prescriptions as the “new normal” for quick fixes.
Adweek reports the campaign is explicitly designed to “destigmatise” GLP-1 use and bring it mainstream complete with national ads and a US Open push.
GLP-1 analogues (like semaglutide) and dual agonists (like tirzepatide) can produce significant weight loss in properly selected patients, within structured clinical care. Randomised trials show average losses around 15% with semaglutide over ~68 weeks and up to ~21% with higher-dose tirzepatide over 72 weeks, paired with lifestyle support and careful dose escalation.
But two things often get lost in the hype:
1. Chronic treatment: Obesity is a chronic condition. In STEP-1’s extension, most participants regained about two-thirds of the weight lost after stopping semaglutide; many metabolic improvements drifted back too. Translation: maintenance usually requires continued therapy plus durable habits.
2. Context matters: GLP-1s can cause GI side-effects, interact with other conditions/meds, and are not universally appropriate (e.g., certain endocrine disorders). Clinical screening, titration, and follow-up are not optional extras, they’re essential.
When a celebrity becomes the face of a medication, the focus shifts from care to consumption. Ads highlight convenience and aspiration, while medical practice is about eligibility, contraindications, consent, and monitoring. One sells speed; the other manages risk.
For postnatal women, this is especially problematic. Media already pushes the idea of “bouncing back” after birth. A celebrity campaign can reinforce that pressure, framing medication as the default first move rather than one option among many.
There’s also the issue of equity and access. GLP-1 drugs are expensive and not equally available. Normalising them through marketing risks widening disparities, making a “solution” visible only to those who can afford it.
And when all the attention is on an injection, behavioural basics, sleep, fibre, protein, resistance training, stress management, support systems, fade into the background. These remain the foundation of health, with or without medication.
If we’re going to talk about GLP-1s, let’s do it in the right order:
1. First, care pathway: medical evaluation, informed consent, eligibility, and shared decision-making.
2. Always, the basics: nutrition quality, protein and fibre targets, resistance + aerobic training, stress and sleep hygiene. These aren’t “nice to haves”; they improve outcomes on GLP-1s and help preserve results if therapy stops.
3. Then, medication as a tool: for the right patient, at the right dose, with planned follow-up and an exit/maintenance strategy.
Bottom line: GLP-1s are valuable tools in modern medicine. But turning them into a celebrity-endorsed lifestyle choice is reckless marketing. And marketing that blurs the line between healthcare and wellness culture can do more harm than good.
Serena Williams will always be an icon. But when it comes to GLP-1s, let’s remember: these medications are meant to be clinical and not aspirational.
References: PMID: 33567185 | PMID: 35658024 | PMID: 35441470
