The Pharmaceutical Funding Behind 'Body Positivity'

An obesity nonprofit determined to radically destigmatize obesity on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry is akin to Big Tobacco funding a front group to destigmatize smoking.

The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies are propping up a non-profit obesity group promoting “Body Positivity” under the banner of “Health at Every Size.”

My latest piece in The Federalist this morning:

A new report and database published by Baron Public Affairs last month outlines pharmaceutical sponsorships for trade organizations promoting obesity as a chronic disease warranting health care coverage rather than a preventable symptom of underlying metabolic dysfunction. One such group with funding from major drug manufacturers Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and Boehringer Ingelheim is the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC), an organization at the center of the far-left movement for “body positivity.”

According to the database released by Baron Public Affairs, OAC has received contributions from at least six pharmaceutical companies in 2022, including Amgen, Biohaven, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer. The most significant sponsorships have come from the producer of Ozempic, Novo Nordisk, which contributed an undisclosed amount of more than $100,000. Pfizer reportedly gave $100,000, while Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Zepbound, and Boehringer Ingelheim, a company with its own weight-loss drug in progress, each gave between $50,000 and $100,000.

Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are the two largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, with a combined market cap of more than $1 trillion. Pfizer and Amgen are the 9th and 10th largest pharmaceutical giants, respectively.

Other sponsors listed on the OAC website include the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, Regeneron, and The Obesity Society. According to the report from Baron Public Affairs, 35 percent, or roughly a third of OAC’s revenues, have come from the pharmaceutical industry.

OAC and Body Positivity

An obesity nonprofit determined to radically destigmatize obesity on behalf of the pharmaceutical industry is akin to Big Tobacco funding a front group to destigmatize smoking. OAC has been a primary vehicle for the grassroots movement to accept obesity as the new norm in a nation where nearly 74 percent of American adults aged 20 and older are either overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). A brochure on the OAC website reads, “Given how acceptable weight stigma is in our society, transforming societal attitudes and enacting laws that prohibit discrimination based on weight are needed in order to eliminate the problem of stigma toward individuals affected by obesity.”

In 2005, the OAC was launched “with the goal that this organization could create needed change for those who are living with and/or are affected by the disease of obesity.” Nearly 20 years later, the coalition operates today with industry funding plus dues from more than 80,000 members.

The “action” demanded by the OAC includes the “elimination of weight bias in our society and laws” based on the “belief” that obesity is a matter of “disease” out of individuals’ control rather than one of personal responsibility. The group’s “Stop Weight Bias Campaign” has its own website and is sponsored by Eli Lilly and WeightWatchers, the legacy weight-loss company now prescribing members the GLP-1 agonists produced by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.

Last year, the OAC held a panel at the group’s virtual convention on “Body Positivity” to “unpack common cultural perceptions around weight stigma and diet culture.” The OAC even has an advocacy statement on “Size Acceptance and Body Positivity,” which reads “we need to promote size acceptance and lessen the cultural obsession with thinness.” The statement adds that obesity is a “chronic disease” that cannot be “diagnosed by body mass index (BMI) or body size.”

“We need to change perceptions of body size and end weight bias, stigma and discrimination,” the statement reads.

The OAC also posts journalistic “guidelines” that are endorsed by The Obesity Society (TOS) and the Obesity Medicine Association (OMA), both of which have also received funding from the pharmaceutical industry according to the Baron health report. The recommendations instruct reporters to promote diversity and steer clear of “an unnecessary or distorted emphasis on body weight.”

“Descriptions of a person’s body weight should not imply negative assumptions about his or her character, intelligence, abilities, or lifestyle habits,” the guidelines read. Journalists should “consider carefully whether terminology and language used to describe body weight could be offensive to persons with obesity” and are encouraged to avoid the terms “fat” or “severely obese.”

“OAC’s focus on the needs and interests of individuals living with the disease of obesity has existed long before pharmaceutical companies became active in this space,” OAC Spokeswoman Kendall Griffey told The Federalist. “Our commitment to addressing weight bias and stigma remains a top priority. Stigma and bias impact people with obesity whether or not they choose to seek treatment. OAC’s view has always been that stigma and bias keep people from seeking and receiving help.”

While it might seem counterintuitive that major pharmaceutical companies would be eager to remove the stigma from excess weight, a condition they’re ostensibly dedicated to help manage, marketing executives understand their audience. Those most likely to seek the drugs are overweight patients who suffer at least one other weight-related condition allowing them to seek insurance coverage. They’re also the most susceptible to far-left messages of “Body Positivity” before being drawn to the pharmaceutical elixirs for obesity once their health problems spin out of control.

Of course, there also exists a bizarre animosity towards the weight-loss drugs among body positive influencers who condemn the idea that obesity is a problem to be treated to begin with.

Links:

The Federalist: Knock Off The Warning Label Nonsense

The Federalist: Jillian Michaels Trashes Far-Left California Governance To Explain Move To Florida

The Federalist: Junk Science: Health Experts Gaslight Americans On The Definition Of ‘Ultra-Processed’ Foods

The Federalist: ‘Love Yourself,’ Preach Celebrities Embracing Weight-Loss Drugs

The Federalist: Stop Putting Non-Models On Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Covers

Wrong Speak Publishing: Florida Rep. Luna Launches Bold Bid to Ban High-Fructose Corn Syrup and Food Dyes

New York Post: Americans work out to have better sex — and dump those who don’t: survey

New York Post: Dangers of taking Ozempic to get ‘beach body ready’ revealed by top doc

Wall Street Journal: What Happens When Your Insurer Is Also Your Doctor and Your Pharmacist

New York Times: Doctors Test the Limits of What Obesity Drugs Can Fix

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