‘It’s problematic’: concern as weight-loss jab maker sponsors Vogue World event

Critics say partnership between Mounjaro maker Eli Lilly and fashion giant suggests thinness is an aspiration

The fifth iteration of Vogue World, overseen by Anna Wintour, took place in Milan on Tuesday night. Gigi Hadid and Jennifer Lopez provided theatrics on the catwalk, but it was one of the event’s backers that caused the biggest stir.

Eli Lilly, an American pharmaceutical company that manufactures a wide range of medicines, including weight-loss jabs Mounjaro and the Foundayo pill, was listed in the event credits as one of its “fashion adjacent” sponsors.

The pharmaceutical company also sponsored the 2025 Vogue World in Hollywood, as well as the Met Gala livestream earlier this year, which included a promotional video starring the actor Patrick Schwarzenegger and the fashion brand Public School.

While the ongoing partnership did not explicitly link Mounjaro or Foundayo with Vogue, the marriage of high-profile fashion events and a weight-loss drug manufacturer has attracted fierce criticism from eating disorder charities and academics.

These groups have long believed that the fashion industry promotes thinness by habitually casting very thin models in catwalk shows, editorials and advertising, and warned of the negative impact this could have.

“It suggests that thinness is once again being positioned very explicitly as something important that we should aspire to – and now something that can potentially be medically achieved,” said Charlotte Markey, a professor of psychology at Rutgers University and author of The Body Image book series.

Markey found the merging of fashion marketing with pharmaceutical marketing particularly troubling as she said it suggested that prescription medication was now part of an aspirational lifestyle. “For an audience already exposed to intense appearance pressures, that can normalise the idea that changing your body medically is simply another beauty or wellness choice,” she said. “I would like to see publications such as Vogue thinking very carefully about the broader psychological and cultural consequences of that message.”

Lauren Downing Peters, an associate professor of fashion studies at Columbia College in Chicago, and author of books including Fashion Before Plus Size, said the sponsorship showed “how normalised GLP-1s have become within the fashion industry and within culture at large”.

Tom Quinn, director of external affairs at the eating disorder charity Beat, found the partnership alarming. “We’re concerned by the widespread use and advertising of GLP-1s, particularly as they can be very attractive for those with eating disorders,” he said.

“Given that the fashion industry has at times been known to idealise and promote unrealistic body ideals, this event being sponsored by the manufacturer of Mounjaro is a problematic association.

“We would encourage both the fashion industry and pharmaceutical companies to consider how they can promote healthy body types and lifestyles to the public.”

Included in the Milan Vogue World partnershipis a video published on the Vogue website titled Portrait of Progress. Produced by Vogue with Eli Lilly, the video compares pharmaceutical technologies to fashion manufacturing.

“For 150 years, Lilly has been revolutionising health,” says a voiceover as a montage of fashion and health related clips play. “The future has always been handmade, discovering, creating, and moving forward. Everything begins with health, and everything else is up to you.”

Downing Peters said that while the video didn’t directly mention thinness or weight-loss drugs, it “links health as a precondition for creativity”.

In August, the UK became the first country in Europe to approve Lilly’s weight loss pill. In the US, the company holds over 60% of the diabetes and weight-loss drug market, with a trillion-dollar valuation.

Many have felt that the fashion industry has recently seen a reverse in its progress towards size inclusivity, with a worrying return of ultra thinness on and off the catwalk.

Last year, a report by Vogue Business found that out of the 9,038 looks presented across 198 shows in the womenswear collections in September 2025, 97.1% were shown on straight-size models who measured between a US size 0-4 (the equivalent of a UK 4-8). Only 0.9% of models were plus-size, also known as curve (UK 18+), while 2% were mid-size (UK 10-16).

The widespread use of GLP-1s, especially for aesthetic weight loss rather than for medical reasons, is believed to be a contributing factor.

This week’s Vogue World show featured the plus-size models Paloma Elsesser and Ashley Graham, and none of its promotional materials made reference to thinness or weight-loss drugs. However, Felicity Hayward, a plus-size model who advocates for size inclusivity in fashion, viewed the presence of plus-size models in the showas “box ticking.” She described the casting as “size diversity cosplay” by Vogue and said the choice of sponsorship was “advocating for thinness with a fog horn”.

A Condé Nast source said the partnership was focused on Eli Lilly’s overall brand and did not focus on one particular drug.

An Eli Lilly spokesperson said: “This sponsorship is part of our 150th anniversary – 150 years of putting health above all. Health is what gives all of us the freedom to move, explore, and be present.

“We partner with cultural platforms like Vogue because that is where conversations about bodies and health take place. Lilly is working to shift the conversation about weight from aesthetics to health and to challenge the stigma people with obesity face every day.”