Type 2 diabetes medication Ozempic is trending on social media and in Hollywood — but not for its original intent. Society is obsessed with being thin, and this phenomenon has driven many people to take extreme measures for weight loss.
Ozempic, or semaglutide, is a weekly pharmaceutical injection that promotes insulin production in the pancreas and lowers the blood sugar of patients. The drug was “approved in 2017 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in adults with type 2 diabetes”, according to UC Davis Health. Soon after its release, the medication’s common side effect of weight loss began to draw media attention.
Ozempic’s active ingredient mimics the hormone GLP-1, which naturally occurs in the body to signal when you’re full. GLP-1 slows digestion and represses the appetite, meaning that patients on Ozempic and other semaglutide medications often lose a significant amount of weight.
Although Novo Nordisk, the company behind Ozempic, states in fine print that “Ozempic is not a weight loss drug”, the larger print above it advertises that it “may help you lose some weight”. Regardless of the medication’s original purpose, a majority of the people currently prescribed Ozempic do not have type 2 diabetes —they are on the medication to lose weight.
Ozempic’s massive boom in popularity can be linked to both the pharmaceutical industry and popular culture. Based on results from clinical testing of semaglutide for type 2 diabetes, scientists began to investigate its potential for weight loss.
In June of 2021, pharmaceutical injection Wegovy was approved by the FDA, a form of semaglutide licensed for use in chronic weight management in adults. With endorsements from celebrities like Elon Musk and Oprah Winfrey, the rise of weight loss medications was inevitable. Ozempic began trending on social media and #Ozempic on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter was soon overflowing with testimonies raving about quick and effortless weight loss.
Our cultural obsession with being skinny is rooted in fatphobia, defined by Within Health as “implicit bias of overweight individuals … often rooted in the misguided idea that attaining a thin or fit body type is the ultimate life goal, and presenting as overweight is a sign of moral failing.” Weight is frequently used as a direct, albeit subconscious, indicator of health, attractiveness and even personality.
A person might be very thin and incredibly unhealthy, yet they are often quickly perceived as “healthier” than a heavier individual who actually maintains sustainable eating and exercise habits. When people describe their weight loss goals, it is often referred to as “getting healthy”, but the two are not interchangeable.
People with slender bodies have been consistently presented in the media as the most attractive demographic, creating an beauty standard that is unrealistic for most people to achieve. Capitalism has played a large role in Ozempic’s enormous popularity. A great deal of success in marketing, particularly in the beauty industry, can be attributed to creating or pointing out insecurities in consumers, and then offering a product to “solve” it. Ozempic is no exception.
Casey Burkett, a licensed clinical professional counselor specializing in eating disorders, discussed how companies prey on people’s insecurities to create need for a product.
“If you’re in a culture that’s built on selling people things to solve all their problems, we have to manufacture a whole lot of problems to solve,” Burkett said. “Making people feel bad about themselves constantly is a great way to sell products that report to have a solution, and that’s where something like Ozempic comes in. People are paying a thousand dollars a month for this.”
Ozempic, as well as the rest of the weight loss industry, profits off of the way many people feel about their bodies. There is immense cultural pressure to be thin, and traditional weight loss routes can be challenging, making Ozempic an incredibly appealing option for the frustrated masses.
Society’s obsession with thinness and Ozempic’s place in health today has had clear consequences, both on the pharmaceutical industry and the average person.
The medication’s huge popularity has led to a shortage, particularly of low-dose versions. Novo Nordisk told the Therapeutic Goods Administration that “supply will remain limited for the rest of 2024”, citing the cause as “a rapid increase in prescribing for ‘off-label’ use (prescriptions to treat conditions other than those approved by the TGA)”.
An Ozempic shortage means limited supply, not only for people seeking the medication for weight loss, but also for those hoping to treat their type 2 diabetes.
As well as consequences for the pharmaceutical industry, Ozempic poses risks and side effects to the people who are prescribed the drug. Side effects include but are not limited to: nausea, abdominal pain, constipation and vomiting, and a variety of issues may be present for patients even after they get off Ozempic.
Burkett discussed the problems that often arise when patients stop taking medications like Ozempic.
“If you look at any of the other trendy medications that have come around in the last five years,
they show that they can do the job and people lose weight, but then as soon as they stop taking them or go back to their original lifestyle, they tend to actually bring on more weight,” Burkett said. “They get into yo-yo dieting cycles where their profound weight loss isn’t maintained by lifestyle.”
Ozempic and similar medications are “quick fixes” for people looking to lose weight. Although patients are likely to lose weight initially, more will likely come back as soon as they go off the medication unless other underlying problems are addressed first.
“There’s no guarantee if they don’t change their lifestyle, change their psychological relationship with food and change their relationship with movement, that they’re going to be able to maintain it,” Burkett said. “Bodies are meant to change. Bodies are meant to go through phases. Bodies are meant to even swing 10-15% in mass through the seasons.”
The rise of Ozempic as a quick-fix weight loss solution demonstrates the dangers of a society obsessed with thinness. Our cultural fixation on achieving an often unattainable beauty standard fuels industries that profit from insecurity, reinforcing fatphobia and unrealistic body ideals. In the pursuit of thinness, many are turning to extreme measures, risking not only their health but also contributing to broader issues, such as medication shortages for those who genuinely need it.
At its core, this trend reflects a deeper societal issue: Equating thinness with health and moral superiority. Until we challenge the underlying fatphobia and redefine what it means to be healthy, medications like Ozempic will continue to be misused, exacerbating eating disorders and promoting harmful cycles of weight gain and loss. Rather than quick fixes, we need to cultivate a culture that values sustainable health, body diversity and self-acceptance.
