What the rise of weight loss jabs means for brands, advertising and society

According to the Planeatry Alliance, around 4.9 million Britons (nearly one in ten) have already used or are considering use of weight-loss injections. One in ten are currently using weight-loss injections and largely paying privately (as of December 2024, 95% of active users were paying out of pocket or via health plans), and three in ten have expressed interest in using them if they were more readily available on the NHS.

Since their introduction to the UK, the increase in use of GLP-1 agonists has been exponential, with society still looking at what the long-term effects of this may be. As we learn more about the ramifications of this, what does this mean for brands, advertising, and, more importantly, society at large?

The impact on the way we eat

Recently, a study by Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business found that in American households with at least one member taking GLP-1s there was an average reduction of 5.5% on how much they spent on groceries within the first six months of adoption. This rose to 8.6% across higher-income households (although it’s worth mentioning that already nutrient dense foods like yoghurt, fresh produce and nutrition bars were the least affected by spend decline). We see similar results in the UK – according to Kantar, the grocery sector has already lost an estimated £136 million in food and drink spending, with GLP-1 users cutting their grocery spend by 2.2%. The impact of GLP-1s on household spending look to continue, with one in five respondents saying they would be willing to use them for the rest of their life.

So far this year, five retailers (Co-op, M&S, Asda, Iceland and Ocado) have announced new ranges claiming to be ‘GLP-1 friendly’ or suited to ‘smaller appetites’, Morrisons similarly launched GLP-1-accompaniment ready meals in December – claiming to be the UK’s first supermarket to do so. Elsewhere, Pret a Manger launched half-size baguettes in their recent Winter menu refresh – showing increased demand for portion-controlled, nutritionally-balanced foods. 

GLP-1s work by suppressing appetite, meaning that being more selective with what foods are eaten is of more importance. As less food is eaten overall, the nutritional value of the food that is ingested becomes of far greater importance, with a greater focus on not just protein and fibre as the trending buzzwords, but also on prioritising vegetables, fruits, grains and healthy fats. Simply making portions of ‘regular food’ smaller doesn’t cut it, as nutritional value loses out. 

Jonny Forsyth, senior director of Mintel Food & Drink Research spoke recently in The Grocer on the rise of ‘ingestion anxiety’ – in a society that sees constant conversation around ultra processed foods (UPFs), microplastics and which ingredients are ‘bad’, it can come as no surprise that people are in a state of hypervigilance over what they eat. According to Mintel, 56% of adults worry about exposure to microplastics from plastic food packaging, and 85% of adults aware of the UPF media coverage were actively trying to avoid them in their diets.

Last year, M&S launched their ‘Only… ingredients’ range, in an effort to promote ingredient transparency and appeal to UPF-anxious consumers. They recently doubled down on this range, introducing twelve new lines into the mix, suggesting a consumer desire for simplicity and clear communication on ingredients and additives from food retailers.

As anxieties increase around what is consumed and how, we see this furthered by GLP-1 users and their avoidance and prioritisation of certain foods. Unsurprisingly, Kantar found that takeaways are being restricted by GLP-1 users, with 63% actively trying to reduce the amount of pizza they consume. Whilst it may be too early to say whether this is strictly causal - the underlying context surrounding the relationship between advertising restrictions on high in fat, salt and sugar foods, the rise in ingestion anxiety and the increase in use of GLP-1s are hard to ignore. As the HFSS ad ban comes into play we see a society thinking increasingly about how and what we eat in much the same way GLP-1 users are encouraged to. As these foodstuffs become less sought after, brands will have to pivot and meet consumers elsewhere.

The impact on advertising

Whilst in one sense people are becoming more clinical and cautious with the way they engage with food, we’re also seeing a desire for new ways to frame advertising on the topic. There’s an interesting tension to note between the consciousness and concerns around consuming, alongside the changes in advertising to become more emotive and emotion-led.

As the then-approaching restrictions around HFSS advertising hung over last year’s Christmas advertising, many adverts featured fewer lingering shots of HFSS food, with a slightly stronger focus on vegetables, found creative data service DAIVID. Looking at the adverts from this festive season that were HFSS-compliant, they appeared to be “finding new emotional routes to win hearts and minds”, more likely to evoke romantic feelings (+10% compared to the norm), adoration (+6%), joy (+4%), and warmth (+2%), and were also 2% more likely to make people laugh.

It appears that a focus on food is not always necessary, what people really remember is the emotional stuff – 11 out of 12 of System1s top adverts from this time focussed much more on emotive storytelling over product – take Waitrose and Saatchi&Saatchi’s The Perfect Gift love story between Joe Wilkinson and Keira Knightley, for example. Although food features in the advert throughout – from the cheese-counter meet-cute, to the biscuit-decorating date, and the turkey pie that brings the pair back together as the advert concludes – these are never the primary focus, with the romantic storyline taking precedence.

The impact on body image

Kantar draw attention to how far reaching the uptake of GLP-1s can be across industries - people are eating differently, shopping differently, and in some cases, even seeing themselves differently.

In an article discussing the backslide of body diversity in fashion, Victoria Moss for Vogue wrote of how the increased use of GLP-1s has shown an increased pressure for thinness – the suggestion that because these drugs are available everyone now can and must be thin, no “excuses^”. Moss writes how thinness has long been our culture’s default demand; to be thin equals not only beauty but success, as it is to be “prudent, restrained, controlled”. The reality is, culture always defaults to thinness as the ultimate beauty ideal, and we are seeing an increase of this in advertising recently. Zara, Next and Marks & Spencer all had adverts banned last year over models who "appeared unhealthily thin". The ASA told the BBC it had seen a "definite uptick" in complaints about such ads.

Vogue Business’ Spring/Summer 2026 Size Inclusivity Report found that there had been an improvement on representation of plus-size models compared to the previous season of Autumn/Winter 2025. Whilst this looks good on the surface, the reality is that the previous season had seen a decrease in size inclusivity, with this latest season simply marking a return to form (compared to S/S 2025, the plus-size representation was roughly the same). However, at the same time, the representation of mid-size models (UK size 10-16) had halved since S/S 2025. It's also worth noting that the reported ‘improvement’ in representation of bodies that aren’t ‘straight-size’ (UK size 2-8) translates as less than 3% of models featured across 198 shows and presentations.

Whether or not thinness becomes en vogue again in the way it was in the 1990s and 2000s, public attitudes look to generally remain in favour of size inclusivity and body diversity. Vogue surveyed readers of their main publication, Vogue Business and GQ to better understand how clothes sizing affects purchase behaviour and brand loyalty, finding that inconsistent sizing and poor sizing availability were among the top deterrents to purchasing from a brand or retailer. Whether or not GLP-1s are seen to ‘over-encourage’ thinness, there is still pushback to the view of this becoming the perceived default again, as complaints around ‘unhealthily thin’ models continue, and desire for more body diversity and size inclusivity both in clothing itself and on the catwalk.

In early January this year, popular GLP-1 Wegovy launched in tablet form in the US, reaching 50,000 prescriptions a week by the end of the month – more than the injection had after its launch in June 2021, making it the “fastest drug launch ever”. As 20% of people report being willing to use GLP-1s for the rest of their lives, and usage increasing constantly – recent tablet format looks to make use even easier - it looks like they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. Ways to pivot will become increasingly important, where changes occur and desires change, a growing need to meet consumers where they are – understanding these new audiences, not just of GLP-1 users, but of those who live in a world being shaped by them.

Caris Brett is Senior Insight Lead at the IPA, and the co-author of the IPA Insight Report The Menopause: The change we need to see.