By 8:30 in the morning, I’ve already encountered three advertisements for GLP-1s. Mid-podcast on the way to school, I learned about the $59 a month price plan for Semaglutid on collective.org.
At night, streaming “Bewitched” on Tubi is bumpered by a dancing Serena Williams injecting herself with a GLP-1 shot, showing her “healthier on Ro.” Minutes later, Martha Stewart sits behind a desk touting GLP-1s for pharmaceutical giant Lilly. At the bottom of the commercial, text reads, “Martha does not take Foundayo.”
For me, these advertisements are seemingly everywhere, which made me wonder how easy it would be to actually get my hands on a prescription. The answer is shockingly so.
GLP-1s are described by the Cleveland Clinic as a class of medications that “that mainly help manage blood sugar (glucose) levels in people with Type 2 diabetes.” However, they have been widely popularized as weight-loss treatments for people struggling with obesity, due to their effects of lowering blood sugar and reducing appetite. Taking GLP-1s can result in modest weight loss, when combined with diet and exercise. GLP-1s come in many different forms, varying by dosage, which ranges from daily to weekly. Available via oral consumption or injection, there are around six to 11 different GLP-1 drugs currently on the market.
For the needle-sqeamish, like myself, the recent introduction of pill form weight-loss drugs, like those featured in Serena Williams’s Ro ad, make GLP-1s seem like a much more attractive weight loss option for those attracted tolusting after the heroin chic aesthetic, and who may not be experiencing health complications that require the significant drop in body weight these pills market. These easy-order weight-loss pills seem to cater to more than those requiring drastic health and lifestyle changes, offering another option for the never-ending scheme of aesthetically minded diet fads. The 2000s are so back — not just the fashion trends, but the body goals.
The relentless GLP-1 advertising is a somewhat unique feature of the United States. Direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising is only legally permitted in the U.S. and New Zealand. While in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration FDA regulates pharmaceutical ads to ensure they aren’t misleading, there are no legal restrictions against the kind of predatory advertising that has Martha Stewart listing the benefits of a drug she’s never taken — with proper disclaimer, of course.
The “ideal” weight for a woman my age and height ranges from 107 to 140.5 lbs, according to BMI, or body mass index, measures. The BMI scale follows a mathematical formula which determines whether a person is of a “‘healthy’ weight by dividing their weight in kilograms by their height in meters squared. However, the BMI index has been widely contested in recent years, criticized as a radical oversimplification of what determines a healthy body.
I weigh just two pounds over the recommended weight, the .5 difference according to the BMI scale changing my classification from “healthy weight” to “overweight.” I stand at the lowest possible BMI index in order to qualify for a GLP-1. In about 20 minutes of research, I discovered a Forbes Health article which recommended Noom as a seller of one of the “best weight loss pills of 2026.” Noom is a weight loss and lifestyle program which offers food tracking tools, personalized health coaching and of course, clinical support and prescriptions for GLP-1s.
Even though Noom’s advertising was markedly empty of smiling Serena Williams, I took their intake questionnaire. I was asked how much weight I’d like to lose, my habits and medical history. Questions about family health history and current weight worked on a surprising honor system. When I uploaded my ID, there weren’t any flags around a 10-pound discrepancy between my stated weight and the one printed on my real ID. When requested to input medical records, I declined. I was given the offer for a prescription anyway, with a $39 price tag.
If interested, I would be prescribed Metformin ER (extended-release), a twice-daily tablet. While Metformin ER is not classified as a GLP-1, it is also FDA approved to treat Type 2 diabetes and causes similar effects as other weight-loss drugs. The physician I spoke to through the app was a Dr. Michael Lee, who alerted me of possible side effects and refill options. There was no way to verify this doctor’s credentials through the Noom app, and since Michael Lee is apparently a common enough name for doctors, I had a difficult time finding him through my own research. He described that, if interested, this medication would be prescribed to me off-label. According to the message I received, “Off-label prescribing is very common.”
The FDA describes off-labeling as “using an FDA-approved drug for an unapproved use.” Off-label prescriptions are a large facet of contemporary medicine, the National Library of Medicine describing how “in the existing regulatory framework, once the FDA approves a product for marketing, physicians may prescribe it for indications or patient populations not included on the label.”
It took less than an hour to find and arrive at the payment portal for weight-loss drugs through Noom. There are hundreds of compounding pharmacies and second sellers who make ordering pills like Metformin ridiculously easy. When considered with the estimated $1 billion pharmaceutical companies spend annually on GLP-1 advertisements, it’s no wonder that everyone I’ve spoken to about GLP-1s knows someone actively taking them.
But instead of shifting the blame onto consumers seeking skinny, we should consider the system that so easily places these drugs within reachgrasp. The reason your aunt won’t eat more than one piece of sushi at dinner is because of predatory pharmaceutical companies, and maybe also Martha Stewart.
