Ozempic and its offshoots have become inescapable.
From a Super Bowl 59 Hims & Hers commercial that skirted around potential dangers of the drug to headlines from BBC World News, Fortune or The Guardian that imply Ozempic will improve your lifespan, the so-called “miracle drug” has dominated discussions the past few years.
Originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes by increasing insulin secretion, Ozempic and its off-brand counterparts have transitioned from a weight-loss secret of wealthy celebrities to a medication mainstream popularity.
Ozempic gained a new level of traction in 2021, this time as a weight loss drug instead of a diabetes medication. Subsequently, 2022 was declared the “end of the Brazilian butt lift era” — the death of the cosmetic procedures that give people curvier figures.
That year, the beauty standard appeared to shift rapidly from an exaggerated hourglass figure to 1990s-era thinness, with many noticing famous figures’ bodies had changed.
It’s unclear if beauty standards in media are changing because of the increased access to GLP-1 drugs or if there is a larger force at hand. And navigating this conversation is already challenging, as personal choices about appearance are just that — personal.
That said, it’s hard to not notice a shift in dialogue on social media, perpetuating an idealized body type that is shifting more toward thinness.
Young women are bearing the brunt of this aesthetic change with their bodies once again being treated as trends. But, this time, things are complicated even more by a medication that comes with possibly serious, unresearched side-effects.
A KFF tracking poll reported that by May 2024, 12% of Americans had taken a GLP-1 drug in their lifetime, with 38% of those users taking it primarily for weight loss. Goldman Sachs projected the number of people using GLP-1 therapies will reach 30 million by 2028, and could potentially reach as many as 70 million.
According to a study by Michigan Medicine, between 2020 and 2023, the use of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss among individuals between the ages of 12 and 25 grew from 8,722 to 60,567. Further, 76% of these adolescents and young adults were women.
Despite this surge, the Food and Drug Administration has raised concerns regarding the administration and use of GLP-1 drugs that have not been approved yet. The apprehension around the safety of GLP-1 drugs is because of their potential side effects like, thyroid tumors, pancreatitis, and acute kidney injury.
While these are among the most severe risks, the National Library of Medicine stated between 40 and 70% of GLP-1 drug users experience gastrointestinal side effects.
Chun-Su Yuan, a professor of anesthesia and member of the Critical Care Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics at the University of Chicago, warned, “the long-term side effects of these drugs are not yet well-studied.”
Despite the possible gruesome side effects, companies advertising offbrand GLP-1 drugs make it impossible to ignore the message they are sending — the very same message that thin is in, and medications can help you fit that.
But, this is a notion advertisers should have waved goodbye to a long time ago.
This moral panic around the “obesity epidemic” began in the 1980s, yet Americans have been dieting since the 1840s. A fringe movement led by Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham claimed spices and other “overindulgences” led to civil disorder and sexual deviance.
By the 1890s, being “plump” shifted from a sign of health and wealth to an indicator you were committing the sin of sloth.
In 2023, Americans spent $33 billion on dieting, despite research studies showing between 95 and 98% of all diets started with the intention to lose weight aren’t effective. This can lead to a lot of empty promises aiming to fulfill what are often false needs as two-thirds of dieters regain more weight than they originally lost.
Companies selling GLP-1 drugs may insinuate they are now the answer to achieve weight loss, but in a way it sounds eerily similar to past popularization of diet fads.
It’s disheartening to also see trends shifting away from the “body-positive” movement, with a backsliding in size-inclusivity this season on the runway and in retail markets. In spring and summer 2025 runway collections, only three out of 65 menswear brands included at least one plus-size model, compared to eight brands including at least one plus-sized model for autumn and winter 2023.
Retail markets reflect this shift.
In the U.S., dress options in sizes 14 and above are decreasing 15% each year. Asos’s curve line has shrunk from making up 3% of the site’s total arrivals in 2023 to 1.7% in 2024. Reformation’s extended line also shrank 46% in 2024, according to Vogue Business.
With the amount of both subtle and blunt messages pushed out by companies, advertisers and social media, it’s not shocking that more women want to be thin.
Even as GLP-1 drugs make thinness more attainable, the visible side effects remain undesirable.
“Ozempic-Face,” characterized by sagging skin and gaunt cheeks, has led to an increase of people turning to face lifts. In 2024, 35 to 55 year olds accounted for 32% of face-lift patients, up from 26% in 2023.
Vogue said since the introduction of GLP-1 drugs, demand for dermal fillers and fat grafting have also risen in popularity. This is alongside with less invasive methods of combating the drug’s less desirable aesthetic side effects, like the increase in skin care that promises a “plumping” effect.
The rising popularity of GLP-1 drugs and innovations in plastic surgery allow women to achieve this new standard of unattainable thinness that is being peddled by the media, fashion and beauty industries. However, these same groups hide the true cost of turning women’s bodies into trends.
Body trends are becoming as fast-paced and cyclical as fashion trends, but the harm left by plastic surgery and under researched drugs will be much deeper than a strain on these young women’s wallets.
When the pendulum inevitably swings the other way and there is a new, equally unrealistic beauty standard in the mainstream, women will once again be expected to meet these expectations without complaint.
And so on, the cycle will continue, and the only people that stand to gain are the industries that capitalize on women’s insecurities.
At some point, we have to ask — when will enough be enough?
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