Eli Lilly & Co have a 90-second ad out now that aims to promote a level playing field when it comes to access to medicine. Take a look…
Normally when I post about commercials I keep my personal opinions to myself, just delivering information about the actors, music, etc. In fact, take a look here for a list of popular ads I’ve researched so far. There are some great ads out there!
This ad from Lilly (created by PHD Media) gives the viewer a sense of the problem, backed by urgent music then offers up the solution, in this case the solution is Eli Lilly & Co (surprise, surprise) with hopeful, inspiring music playing in the background.
Besides the fact that Lilly is a company that wants to make money so of course they’re going to try to make themselves look virtuous and all that, there are a couple of subtle messages within the ad that, the more I think about them, tick me right off.
The first one floats by without much distinction. Did you catch it? The line goes like this: “The body you are randomly assigned at birth…”
Um, WHAT? I’m shocked this script didn’t get another revision (or even more scary, maybe it did!). “Randomly assigned”? Who writes this woke junk? I guess one way to look at it is that at least they acknowledged a higher power, after all if a body is assigned to someone, someone’s got to be doing the assigning, right?
But even within this line is another bothersome phrase: “assigned at birth.” Hmm. What about the body for the previous nine months inside the mama’s belly? They are telling the viewer indirectly that you are not a human till you are born. Scary stuff. The reality, whether Lilly & Co wants to believe it, is that science is on the side of a fetus being its own entity VERY soon after conception. Case and point: Just 21 days after conception the fetus has a blood type. Without getting into the details (you can check out this post for more info), one person cannot survive with two different blood types in their system. So if the fetus is just an extension of the mother, say bye bye to mama because she will have two blood types, which is 100% fatal. But for centuries pregnant women haven’t been dying by the millions! So what’s up with that? I guess it’s the science. The little life growing inside her is a person, a human, with its own blood type.
The second subtle message from this ad is: white people bad. All other people – good. Take a look at the ad again if you need to, and notice when white people show up, if at all. It’s when they mention zip code 90210, showing two white couples. The first pair is eating a meal in an extravagant setting. The next couple is playing tennis in a country club type setting. In other words, white people are rich and out of touch and should be discriminated against. Side note: exactly how terrible and lazy are these tennis players? There are a million balls laying all over the court.
Later they show a black man wearing a covid mask standing in front of a billboard with a white-haired lady smiling, no mask. OK, I thought they were trying to be subtle but now I’m not so sure.
The only other white people we see are a couple of kids, and kids are (and should be) exempt from being portrayed as evil. That title is reserved for the evil white adult. White people bad!
I cannot stand the pandering in this ad. Just so we are all on the same page, anyway, we all know Lilly is a company that wants to make money, right? So let’s pay close attention to what they say, and who they say it about, because at the end of the day they shot and edited a commercial to appeal to a group of people so those people will spend money on Lilly products. That’s all it’s about. Don’t let picturesque clips of black people playing basketball or Mexican people dancing to Mexican music cloud your vision. You can be 1,000% sure they did market research, tests, studies, to find out how best they can spend their advertising dollars to get the biggest return. Sadly, Lilly went with bashing white people and promoting a pro-choice agenda.
For all of us who have exited a womb and appreciate the beauty in the colors of all of our skin, this ad should be offensive. It keeps alive the idea of division based on race, economic status, and geographic location. With that said, I guess the commercial actually does exactly what it’s claiming to be against.
How do you feel about the ad? Did anything stand out to you as being divisive, or unifying? Chime in below and let’s discuss!
-Out of the Wilderness
Out of the Wilderness 
Thank you for writing this post. I typed the words “Lilly disingenuous advertisement” into search because it irked something in me so bad that it made my skin crawl without being able to put my finger on why. I’m glad to discover people thinking critically about things (like subtle disturbing messages in advertising) that others miss entirely.
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ONE MILLION MOMS has a petition against…I have already signed.
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Even worse is their commercial of the Olympics , putting down our country as if we had the worst healthcare , we may not be perfect but definitely not the platform for criticizing our country , wondering if they’re communist . Typical hypocrites that Exploit people in the name of good ,criticize our country but live here taking the full benefits of our freedom
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LILLY Is and absolute disgrace in my opinion. I don’t even know what the hell they do…:but what I do know is their brainwashing tactics and pandering is despicable
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All Right!
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They are getting at the message of being assigned a sex at birth does not determine who you are which is a pro transgender message. The commercial is desperately trying to use compassion to psycho manipulate the viewer into thinking they are good and pro diversity and shaming a certain culture and showing divisiveness and shame towards one culture which only creates more anger. The commercial is all about money from a specific population and using fake empathy to sell their product. At the end of the day it’s all about profit and cash.
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The bottom line is what rules, and catering to the loud folks.
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I googled Lilly woke commercial because I felt the same way. You worded it perfectly. So glad other people noticed everything I did. Keep it up. I know there are thousands that thought the same thing.
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Thanks Kyle!
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Where do they get off telling viewers you are randomly assigned a body/gender? Not going to go complete nerd status but the strongest sperm won the race and then the egg and sperm combination developed you DNA and Genetic make up.
A parents can’t pick out their offspring from a build a bear. I am not even getting in to religion simply just actual simple science.
This ad is absolutely disgusting and this adds to people thinking they can say and do what they want to others with no repercussions or consequences. Definitely ensuring this company is on the do not buy from list.
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Notice they show a lesbian couple on the bed one of them far along in pregnancy the other with her arm around her partners tummy. ( unless this is mother daughter ? )
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“The body you were randomly assigned at birth. A pharma company saying this, preposterous! Conception may be random, but after that nothing is random about it. TAKE THIS COMMERCIAL OFF TV. It is offensive and misleading people who do not any better.
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Yes thank you for noticing! I was extremely offended by this, particularly the “you are randomly assigned a body at birth”…what?!?! I continue to be disappointed but not surprised in the least in how the world and the USA in particular are being very intentional about moving away from God’s plan and principles.
I often wondered how the world could possibly move to the end times of Revalation, but I am seeing it happen right in front of me.
Be prepared people, be prepared….
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Agreed. As a Christian, this commercial was completely offensive.
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Ok, yeah..I’m confused how we are supposedly randomly assign a body at birth. Are they saying this in regards to gender or congenital defects or what? I couldn’t believe my ears and then my eyes once I read your blog and rewatched the ad. I definitely get what you said about the white people bad vibe. And yes the whole division of people based on the supposed randomly assigned bodies is exactly what is portrayed in this commercial. I am going to check which company is behind my medication, it better not be this company. This whole white people bad crusade is having an effect on children too. My nine year old daughter has asked me if we were as good as others that have a different skin color, this door should go both ways. Big pharma, stop trying to pretend that you care about anything more than the almighty dollar!
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Thank you all for the comments! Lately commercials are made by people who think everyone is an idiot. They make me sick.
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glad i’m not the only one to get whiplash from “the body you were randomly assigned”. geez, i believe in free speech and free will to write this company off. 🙂
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Extremely inflammatory and divisive. Woke advertising in search of their almighty dollar.
God shall judge them. Till then, I’ll do my best to determine what products they make and avoid them like the plague.
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Your commercial is offensive to people who choose to believe differently than yourselves. ‘The body your were randomly assigned at birth’? Fine, if that is what you choose to find comfort in, but for those of us who believe in a Creator, it is a rude and unsettling commentary on the hubris of contemporary life. Whether or not you believe that there is a Creator is up to you, and I certainly don’t hold any belief or lack thereof against you. However, assuming that those of us who believe in a Creator believe that the same Creator gave you the gifts of intellect and wonder to seek meaning to issues and questions that cannot be easily answered. To presume, however, that those of us who believe in a good and compassionate God are idiots, or somehow less than wise, in your estimation, is nothing more than rude, and goes a long way in explaining the idiocy of our contemporary attitudes toward life, the fate of our world, and the right of all of life to live and prosper. Shame!
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This is truly offensive! I do not, for a moment, deny the wonders of science, but the attitude that there is nothing but is a rude supposition against people who believe that a loving Creator gave us the gift of science, talent, and wonder. Shame on you for telling people who choose to believe in God as stupid, moronic, and silly!
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My sex was “RANDOMLY” assigned?!! No I was born a female. Nothing random about it. Man, that was a very offensive statement. God assigned my sex. It was not random.
If you choose to have gender changing surgery, etc., that is on you.
That is your choice, but you were not randomly assigned the sex you were born as.
Very offended by that statement. I don’t get offended often but I am not stupid enough to accept being randomly assigned crap you are putting in your ads. Now I want to check my prescriptions to make sure none of them are produced by Lilly.
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That first line deeply offends me! God made us. In his image! And we are – each and every one of us – a miracle! How dare this BIG PHARMA company exploit anyone’s low self esteem to make a stupid buck! Oh sorry, MILLIONS of bucks actually! How dare you?! Cv
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I as well found this ad to be extremely offensive. I am sick and tired of this garbage. The implication that “some people” are racist bigots but “we at Lily are above those people”. Well, we all know who they are labeling racist. I’m sick of it. The implication that you simply don’t care about another human being because of their skin color and because of what political party you agree with is disgusting. The narrative that it’s just a fact and now understood that all white conservatives are racist. You don’t know anything about me, but once I say I’m a conservative that automatically makes me a racist? Who are you to label me?
I’ve had it with those people. I’m being serious here. I really do think liberals/democrats push this racism stuff because they are embarrassed by the democrats history of racism in their party. What party was it again that used the filibuster to try and stop the civil rights amendment? What party tried to stop the women’s suffrage amendment? Imagine where we might be today if republicans called them racists for all of these past 60+ years, like the democrats are doing today.
They push this garbage. They label others. They say conservatives are pushing hate and division. And they get away with it because we haven’t had an honest media in this country in, what, 20 years? Or more? Today they don’t even bother to try and hide that fact.
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I landed here when I googled the first phase you addresses. The add sounded so uplifting but my first since was this was a point of religion that I was unaware of. I simply wanted to know the source. While I typed the search I was thinking how I liked the add but that made me pull back suspecting hidden religious agenda.
Thanks for article . I will now go back to search for repeats of that phrase. Do not accept it is original here.
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I thought about posting a complaint on HULU’s website since I find the commercial extremely offensive and distasteful. But then I deleted it out of fear that somebody would report me, dox me, and poof Im out of a job. Pretty sad isnt it? That we cant even speak up and voice our opinions out of fear that a miniscule minority of the population will scream some hate-filled name and accuse of of everything under the sun.
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So glad I am not the only one offended by these commercials!! My husband noticed so much offensive stuff in one commercial but I was so offensive by by the first line – “a body you are randomly assigned at birth” that I didn’t even see or hear anything past that!
We, who were knit together in our mother’s womb, know the difference. It’s important that we speak truth when we see it!
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As I first listened to the noted advertisement, the portion of it that smacked every part of my being immediately is the “body you are randomly assigned at birth”. There is nothing random about it when we know that our Creator God said to the prophet Jeremiah… “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” – Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV). As I listen to the ad again, I realize the history when medicine did discriminate because of who made it, why it was made, and who it was/is administered to or not and know that such history is why there is so much distrust and fear – it was spoken about nearly every day throughout the pandemic. Satan seeks to divide, disillusion, and deceive; I pray for God’s mercy as we ask for His discernment and wisdom to recognize and counter it – Satan has no power when we invoke God’s Word Incarnate in Jesus Christ.
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Amen!!!
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Glad to know I was not the only person angered by the foolish random assigned at birth comment. God does not do random. There are those trying to get those of us who believe in God and his Almighty power to stop. Well I will never stop believing in the power of God or how he blessed me to be born. Nothing random about it.
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glad to see im not the only one who picked up on this bs. oh yes white people so bad this commercial portrays us all as rich and healthy. lemme tell yall somethin im 50 shades of white a mixture of italian polish jewish. and I was poor for a long time, in fact when I was 26 I had cancer and the health system kept sending me away bc I didnt have insurance It wasnt until one doctor would see me on a follow up that I got really checked and then diagnosed. so white people have many issues this commercial is a fuckin lie. wanna know who has real privileges? anyone whos not white and can do and say whatever they want with no repercussions. thats right. “poc” are the privileged. and theyre jealous of a facade. theyre haters of thw white ppl, jealous of us for privileges most of us dont even have. theyve been lied to and brainwashed against the white people. this commercial is pandering and stupid. also thw term woke. it sounds stupid it doesnt even make sense in the english language to say “im woke” so right off the bat the people who say this are lookin pretty stupid talkin in ways that literally sound like 3 year olds tryin to formulate a sentence. well thats all I got to say this shit is annoying and overplayed like a broken record but it will be seen more and more as these companies get away w posting “woke” messages, further brainwashing the sheep that eat this cud right up.
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Stay on the topic without getting ugly and bringing ppl of color into this. You are playing into their hands. FYI I just read where a
Caucasian celebrity used the term I AM WOKE. No matter what people of color say and do there seems to be a COOL factor associated with it that keeps the rest of the world imitating it. Yes I got off the topic but it needed to be said. Back to Lilly why are they so intent on removing God from the picture? Their commercial is offensive and intenionally meant to divide an already divided nation. Do not play their game. Practice Love it is stronger than hate.
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Well said. Double standards shouldn’t be praised . Like I said in my post the children are starting to think they did something wrong bc of their skin color. I’m also getting sick of commercials that are played while we’re watching a family show for kids and the commercial is basically saying, straight people- BAD ; white people BAD, AND SHOULDN’T OWN BUSINESSES; two people of the same race married -BAD X2 ; a man being married to a woman- SO, SO HORRIBLY BAD, HOW DARE YOU!?
I’m not ready to teach my kids about sex and relationships yet, but tv commercials don’t care about that! I canthink of plenty of ads that definitely wouldn’t fly if they were worded differently, makes me so mad.
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I have been binge-watching “This Is Us” and a different Lilly commercial is playing but also includes the “randomly chosen at birth” line. I want to throw something at the TV and Lilly every time.
Jeremiah 1:4-5 4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Isaiah 44:2 2 This is what the LORD says- he who made you, who formed you in the womb , and who will help you: Do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. Isaiah 49:5 5 And now the LORD says- he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength- Psalm 22:10 10 From birth I was cast on you ; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Isaiah 49:1 1 Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. Psalm 139:13 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb . Luke 1:44 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Job 31:15 15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers? Galatians 1:15 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased Luke 1:41 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
As a person with Judeo-Christian values, I reject there message and, where possible, their products. If there is a generic or an alternative pharmaceutical source, I will endeavor to use it.
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I love this! The Bible is full of life and love concerning the unborn. Thank you for replying with all these references.
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That grouping of text references is actually from another site and I tried to add the hyperlink to the reply. I’m grateful for your post for saying the thing I’ve been stewing about for days.
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That grouping of text references is actually from another site and I tried to add the hyperlink to the reply. I’m grateful for your post for saying the thing I’ve been stewing about for days.
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Stewing is a good word for how we have been feeling, yes. It’s like they have an agenda beyond medicine.
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Thank you for stating the obvious. The most distressing and deluded message shows healthcare workers with the audio implicating implicitly that healthcare serves white people only!!
I was a Registered Nurse for 35 years and I NEVER saw people of ANY color mistreated bc of skin color. NEVER.
This ad sickens me.
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Thanks for sharing your experience. That’s really encouraging about no one being mistreated based on color. Mainstream media would want us to believe otherwise.
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YES. I was posting about this commercial on FB and the “randomly assigned at birth” line in particular since I think HULU only plays snippets of it as I had not seen the entire 90-second one above which is even worse and wanted to include this ad in the comments and came across this article, and I posted Psalm 139:1-18 and that there is nothing random about me or my life or anyone else’s either. I have had several friends comment that this commercial angers them all the time too, so glad I’m not alone. If this is wokism, where everything that a person is is in question, no wonder people are so miserable and angry and full of hatred for themselves and everyone else. Sad world we are living in.
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Thank you! I’m here because I just watched the ad and it bothered me so much that I needed to google it and see if anyone else has brought this to the public eye. So far, you’re the only one, so thank you. The “randomly assigned” is what really got to me. Random? Um, no. Spiritually and/or scientifically. Two people with their own genetic makeup (also not randomly assigned) came together with egg and sperm and created you. Didn’t we all learn this in middle school sex ed? Also, the point of the ad is to say that they’re making pharmaceuticals accessible for all bodies but then they show racist, stereotyping clips? No, I’m good Eli Lilly & Co. I’ll be getting my drugs from somewhere else.
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Thanks for commenting. I guess a company is allowed to make whatever statements they want, that’s the beauty of the United States. They could also, in this case, ya know, just make medicine and leave controversy out of it. But Lilly does what Lilly does haha
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But also, it still ticks me off HOW Lilly presented their message. They try to be subtle and it’s irritating. If you want to be pro-choice, go for it. If you want to bash white people, go for it. But don’t try to almost subliminally project these deep issues onto viewers, come right out and say it.
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Amen!!! This commercial is so offensive to me!!
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I agree that this ad is offensive and pushes to divide rather than unite. You would think that a drug company making billions would be smart enough to avoid making political statements that simply pander.
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