What The Hell Was That Pro-Obesity Commercial During Rose Bowl Game?

While watching the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal between Indiana and Alabama in the Rose Bowl Game, I noticed something very strange during halftime. A commercial ran that appeared to promote that obesity is a perfectly healthy lifestyle and, if you think otherwise, you're fat-shaming.

Perhaps more bizarre is that the commercial was created by Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly), a company that produces several drugs targeted toward obese people, including Zepbound, a drug you've likely seen promoted in other advertisements. Lilly also makes Mounjaro, a drug to help treat type 2 diabetes. That's another drug you've likely seen hundreds of TV advertisements promoting. 

During the College Football Playoff at the Rose Bowl, Eli Lilly aired a halftime commercial that many viewers read as endorsing obesity as healthy.

(Getty Images)

The ad featured a young man, who we're supposed to think is an athlete, speaking at what appears to be a press conference. The young man essentially attacks internet fat-shaming and says his life choices are no one's business but his own. 

"I've been dieting since I was 12. You think I need to hear about your workout routine? You don't stop to ask about mine," the man says. 

Well, to be fair, very few people would likely be interested in the workout routine of someone who looks like him. But I digress. 

"No matter what I do, you're gonna have your own thoughts, so get it all out while you're in the comment section. I'll be focusing on what really matters, like how I feel when I'm waking up in the morning, like showing up for people I love. My health is my focus, and my body is nobody's business," he concludes.  

There Are So Many Problems With This Commercial 

First, and most importantly, the ad was made by Lilly. Lilly running a commercial that says obesity is healthy is like McDonald's running an ad that says eating Big Macs will make you rich. Neither is true, but it certainly behooves the company to tell you that. 

The difference is that McDonald's isn't actually running a commercial that says eating Big Macs will make you rich because that's ridiculous. But Lilly is running multiple commercials saying that obesity is healthy.  

Second, it actually is the business of other Americans if their fellow citizens are obese, because we pay billions of dollars in taxes and a lot of that money goes into government-funded health care. Obese people put more strain on the health care system than non-obese people. 

Obese people, on average, spend more time in hospitals according to studies. So, the more obese people there are in the country, the less space there is available for other people seeking treatment from doctors. 

I wasn't the only person to notice the obvious. 

It's not fat-shaming to tell someone they are overweight and should try to lose weight; in fact, it's quite the opposite. It shows that you care about their health. No matter how much money companies spend trying to pretend like being fat is simply a lifestyle choice akin to what clothes you choose to wear, it isn't. 

Obesity isn't healthy. Telling someone to eat right and exercise isn't fat-shaming. 

Lilly knows that, but here's the part they also know: if everyone in America simply ate healthier and exercised more, they'd make a lot less money. That's why they pour millions of dollars into these types of advertisements. 

They know that's a drop in the bucket compared to the billions in profits from their weight-loss and diabetes drugs.