Novo Nordisk is under fire over a Spanish obesity awareness campaign. After the campaign stirred up controversy, the Spanish ministry of health wrote to the drugmaker about a possible violation of drug advertising regulations.
Through statements such as “obesity can kill,” the campaign sought to frame obesity as a chronic disease rather than an aesthetic issue. Novo pushed the message through various media channels, including social media and billboards, but pulled materials after the campaign triggered a fervent reaction, with many critics saying it carried an overly aggressive, fear-based tone that could ultimately bolster, rather than combat, weight-based stigma and shame.
Spain’s health ministry is now questioning whether materials on the campaign’s website could be considered covert advertising for prescription drugs. The website, which Novo has since taken offline, included a series of recommended questions for patients to ask their doctors. No medicines were named, but the ministry raised the possibility that the content as a whole could represent a form of indirect prescription drug advertising.
Multiple scientific and professional societies endorsed the campaign. The health ministry has also asked Novo for documents about the endorsements, and the Spanish officials said they will analyze materials shared by Novo before issuing another statement.
A Novo spokesperson told The BMJ the reaction to the campaign “is the best demonstration that it was necessary,” adding that the materials were always intended to run for just a few days. The campaign met its goal of “sparking conversation about obesity as a health matter rather than an aesthetic one,” the spokesperson said.
Some of the societies that initially endorsed the campaign have since sought to distance themselves from the controversial materials. For example, a spokesperson for SEMERGEN, a Spain-based scientific society of primary care, told The BMJ that, while the primary care society advocates for the fact that obesity is a disease, “some later materials took a different tone and we deeply regret the outcome, which was never intended to stigmatize but to raise awareness.”