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This column examines how consumer perception, brand legitimacy, and reputational trust can be shaped through large-scale advertising campaigns, particularly when companies market products that closely resemble established brands in highly regulated industries.
Originally published February 8, 2026, in the New York Law Journal.
Ahead of Super Bowl LX, a weight loss company, Hims & Hers, launched a compounded, unapproved copy of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, just days before airing a high-profile ad. Novo Nordisk criticized this as an illegal knockoff that borrows their brand reputation. The ad, during the Super Bowl, builds trust for Hims & Hers, making consumers more likely to believe their product is legitimate. Regulators have warned against misleading marketing, but the case highlights how competitors can blur brand lines on the biggest advertising stage, potentially damaging established brands’ reputations.
This Sunday, more than 120 million Americans will tune into Super Bowl LX. And in what some are already calling “the GLP-1 Super Bowl,” at least three weight loss companies will be competing for their attention during commercial breaks. One of them, Hims & Hers, just launched a compounded copycat of Novo Nordisk’s new Wegovy pill days before airing its second consecutive Super Bowl ad. Novo Nordisk has indicated it will take legal and regulatory action.
From a brand standpoint, the timing is no accident.
In early January, Novo Nordisk launched its Wegovy pill at $149 a month. Think of this as Novo’s version of what Fitbit did for wearable health monitoring: taking what was once a more involved product (the injectable) and making it accessible to consumers uncomfortable with needles and looking for a lower price point. It is a bet that could dramatically expand the GLP-1 market by reaching people sitting on the sidelines.
Then, days before Super Bowl Sunday, Hims & Hers announced a compounded version of the pill starting at $49 a month. That price, however, is a first month promotional offer that jumps to $99 a month and requires a five month commitment. Their marketing describes it as having “the same active ingredient as Wegovy.” Novo Nordisk immediately called it “an unapproved, inauthentic, and untested knockoff.”
This is the luxury handbag problem at pharmaceutical scale.
Anyone who has walked through Canal Street in Manhattan has seen the knockoff Chanel bags and Rolex watches. The sellers trade on the legitimacy of the original to convince buyers they are getting the same thing at a fraction of the price. Hims & Hers is running the same playbook. By marketing their compounded pill with direct references to the Wegovy name, they are borrowing Novo Nordisk’s brand equity, its years of clinical trials, its FDA approval, its reputation for safety, and attaching all of it to a product that has gone through none of that.
But here is what makes this different from a guy on a street corner selling fake handbags. Hims & Hers is not operating in the shadows. They are doing it on the biggest advertising stage in the world.
Their Super Bowl ad, titled “Rich People Live Longer” and narrated by Common, argues that premium healthcare should not be reserved for the wealthy. A compelling message. But pair that brand halo with the launch of a knockoff product just days earlier and you have a potent combination. The Super Bowl ad builds credibility and trust for the Hims & Hers brand, and that trust inevitably transfers to everything they sell, including their compounded copycat of Wegovy.
This is where trademark attorneys should pay close attention. For most consumers, the Super Bowl is a signal of legitimacy. Companies that spend $8 to $10 million on a 30 second spot are perceived as established, trustworthy, and real. When viewers see a Hims & Hers ad during the game and then encounter their $49 pill marketed as containing “the same active ingredient as Wegovy,” the natural assumption is that this is a legitimate product. The ad effectively becomes a credibility stamp for everything the company sells.
The FDA has already flagged this concern. In September 2025, the agency issued a warning letter to Hims & Hers for “false and misleading” marketing that suggested their compounded products were the same as FDA approved GLP-1 drugs.
For brands like Novo Nordisk, the lesson is clear: protecting a brand today is no longer just about policing who uses your name. It is about understanding how competitors use legitimacy signals, including Super Bowl advertising, to blur the line between their products and yours in the minds of consumers. And for trademark attorneys, this case is a reminder that brand damage does not always come from someone copying your logo. Sometimes it comes from someone borrowing your reputation on the biggest stage in the world.
