Lilly battles weight stigma in short film centering obesity conversation on health, not appearance

GLP-1 giant Eli Lilly has once again taken to the medium of short film to deliver an important message about obesity.
In early 2024, the Big Pharma debuted a pair of unbranded shorts entitled “Big Night” and “Shame,” both of which focused on weight stigma. The former took aim at the off-label use of weight-loss meds by Hollywood stars and others who don’t have an actual medical need for the drugs, while the latter put the spotlight on the societal shame that lurks “like a shadow” for many people who are overweight or with obesity, ending with the message that “health is not about what weight we lose, it’s about all the things a body can gain.”
Lilly is doubling down on that message in its newest film, “My Focus,” which debuted earlier this month and was made in partnership with Wieden+Kennedy Portland. Unlike its predecessors, which travel through different scenes and storylines, the new minute-long spot stays in a tight close-up on one person’s face the entire time.
That choice was deliberate, in an effort to “reflect a more personal, lived experience with obesity and the real cultural pressures people face,” Lina Polimeni, Lilly’s chief consumer marketing officer, told Fierce Pharma Marketing via email.
“The film was designed to feel like a person-to-person conversation in order to challenge the viewer’s assumptions about obesity and to keep the focus on health rather than appearance,” she said.