Hims & Hers Super Bowl Commercial Spotlights Cancer Detection, GLP-1 Microdoses

Advanced cancer detection, hormone therapies and microdoses of GLP-1 sound like medical treatments for the rich and chic. One company is taking them to the Super Bowl so that anyone can try them.

Hims & Hers Health, which last year used the Big Game to spur consumers to use telehealth to work around the industry’s big pharmaceutical companies and grab hold of weight loss drugs on their own, is back with another crusading commercial urging viewers to take their fair share of treatments that might previously have been reserved for the very wealthy.

“It’s all about democratizing access to the things that are  available to the super rich and we’re bringing them to people, and the sad truth is, is rich people live longer, you know? Like there’s stats about it,” says Dan Kenger, the company’s chief design officer. “A lot of it isn’t because they don’t get sick. It’s because they are proactive and they take health into their hands.

A fourth-quarter spot narrated by rapper and actor Common will encourage others to do the same.
In the spot, Common tells viewers that “the wealth gap is a health gap,” as images of billionaires taking shuttles into space and testing out esoteric health regimens show on screen. The rich “get the best of everything, so why don’t you?”

Executives at Hims & Hers believe the company has license to deliver a swashbuckling, populist message, sways Kenger. The evidence was found in last year’s Super Bowl ad.

“We felt that it had a huge amount of impact on moving the conversation in the right way,” the executive says, noting that the cost of certain weight loss drugs have declined in the weeks and months after the commercial ran. “It kind of showed us that if we have something to say, that isn’t celebrity driven, that isn’t comedy, people will take notice, you know?”

The Super Bowl ad roster will feature at least one other telehealth provider. Ro will run a commercial during the game built around Serena Williams, who will explain in fine detail how her body chemistry has changed since she started using the company, which counts her husband as an investor, and its services.

Kenger believes Hims & Hers is already on to new business. “There’s probably going to be a lot of weight loss commercials this year, and they’re probably going to try to be funny and they’re probably going to be relatable and they’re probably going to have a celebrity, right? And that’s great,” he says. “I think we’re past that conversation. You know, we did that. We talked about it. The prices are down. Now let’s talk about something else.”