Hims & Hers Advertisement Controversy
Payton Costenbader
Marketing Editor
The 2025 Super Bowl was a massive blow out, not only for the competing teams, but for the companies battling for the most memorable ads. This year’s game averaged 127.7 million U.S viewers across streaming platforms, a record for American football history. Purchasing a 30 second space for advertising during the commercial breaks of this program costs companies close to $8 million. The advertising campaigns being aired are of the highest standards of the marketing teams running these programs, so how do we find that some of these ads are not well received by the audience?
It could be theorized that companies may want to intentionally put out an off-putting or weird ad, with the mindset that aligns with “any press is good press,” as famously spoken my P.T. Barnum. This tactic relies on negative reviews sparking conversation about the company, thus increasing the brands presence on social media or in household conversations. This is a very risky move and not the intention of the teams putting together commercials that air during the Super Bowl.
Huge creative risks are often displayed during the short time allotted per commercial. This is done in hopes of winning the audience over and being the most memorable product. The pressure of the high cost associated with the advertisement forces teams to create overly complex or ridiculous ads because they do not have more resources available to land an impactful message.
This year there were brands that stood out for, unfortunately, missing the mark with audiences. A massive backlash erupted after the telehealth startup, Hims & Hers, aired a commercial that attacked the weight loss industry. The ad took to criticizing other prescription drug companies for their pricing and accessibility, while advertising their compounded version of the same medicine. Due to the Hims & Hers products being a compounded version of the brand name weight loss drugs, like Ozempic and Wegovy, it is not subject to the same FDA processing guidelines. This advertisement only highlights that they are not held to the same standards for a short 3 seconds out of the minute-long commercial. Industry
experts and U.S Senators view this as misleading and irresponsible advertising that did not comply with the FDA guidelines on direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising.
At this time, the FDA has not issued a formal statement regarding the Hims & Hers commercial; however, the public has taken their negative opinion to social media. Many people have spoken out against the inconsiderate advertising, especially the brand highlighting the negative impacts of the weight loss industry in order to sell weight loss products. This ad unfortunately did not make the impact that was intended by the company. Hims & Hers can only work to rebuild its once highly esteemed reputation through their cooperation with Congress and the new administration in order to fight the obesity epidemic in America through more considerate routes.
Contact Payton at costenpa@shu.edu