What Serena Williams’ Super Bowl Commercial Reveals About GLP-1 Drugs and Body Image Pressures
During the 2026 Super Bowl, tennis legend Serena Williams appeared in a commercial promoting GLP-1 weight-loss medication through the telehealth company Ro. The ad framed the medication as part of her postpartum health journey and emphasized something many people struggle with: bodies change and losing weight can be difficult.
At first glance, the message may seem straightforward – modern medicine can help with weight loss. Not far beneath the surface, however, there is a much larger cultural message at play, one that touches on how bodies are valued, judged, and controlled in society. If even a body capable of historic athletic achievement is still framed as needing improvement, what message does that send to the rest of us? For people who struggle with body image or disordered eating, the implication can feel painfully familiar: no body is ever quite finished, and no amount of strength, success, or capability exempts a person from the expectation to become smaller or “better.”
GLP-1 medications are legitimate medical treatments that can be helpful for some people, and this discussion is not about judging who should or shouldn’t use them. Rather, the focus is on the broader cultural story surrounding weight and bodies. In our society, weight loss is often framed as inherently virtuous or necessary, while body size is treated as a moral indicator of discipline, attractiveness, or self-control. This framing reaches beyond individual choice and shapes how people relate to their own bodies, often producing shame, self-monitoring, and fear that the body will never measure up. This is particularly salient for people who have spent years negotiating conflicting messages about health, strength, beauty, and control. The ad, whether intentionally or not, reminds viewers that no body is immune from scrutiny and that even the extraordinary may still be framed as “in need of improvement.”
The significance of this moment is also shaped by whose body is being discussed. Serena Williams has never been evaluated only as an athlete. She is a Black female athlete, existing at the intersection of racialized and gendered expectations about bodies. Throughout her career, her body has been scrutinized in ways that reflect those intersecting pressures and often echo long-standing stereotypes about Black women’s bodies and narrow cultural ideals of femininity.
The question this moment raises isn’t about her personal decisions; it’s about the cultural story that frames bodies as projects that must always be improved or corrected. Cultural messages about bodies never exist in isolation. They intersect with race, gender, history, and power, and they shape how different people hear the same message in very different ways. When that cultural story appears attached to a body that has already challenged expectations about strength, femininity, and race, it underscores just how pervasive those pressures are.
In therapy, we often see that the work of healing rarely begins with achieving the “right” body. More often, it begins when people start asking a different question: what if my body isn’t something I have to constantly fight? What if the goal isn’t perfection, weight loss, or correction, but cultivating a different relationship with the body you already have? This work can involve noticing the ways cultural messages, advertising, and social expectations have shaped self-perception, and exploring how those messages may be influencing choices, emotions, and behaviors around food, movement, and self-care. It can also involve practicing curiosity rather than judgment, experimenting with small shifts in self-care, and learning to recognize and counter internalized pressures that tell us we are never enough.
Advertisements like this one can reflect the pressures many people feel, but they also create an opportunity to notice those pressures, question their origins, and explore how we relate to our bodies with more compassion and curiosity. Ultimately, the question isn’t about any single athlete, any medication, or any individual body. It is about the cultural story that shapes how we see all bodies and the possibility of stepping outside of that story. Healing can begin when we allow ourselves to inhabit our bodies fully – to feel them, care for them, and move through the world without constant self-surveillance or pressure to conform to someone else’s standard. This is not about perfection or adherence to a norm; it is about presence, curiosity, and reclaiming a sense of autonomy over our own embodied experience.
Individual Relationship Therapy Denver, CO
If you are ready to shift from self scrutiny to self compassion, our therapists at Authentic Connections Therapy and Wellness are here to help. We provide a supportive space to explore how cultural pressures and body image expectations impact your well being. Whether you are navigating complex feelings about your body or simply want to reclaim autonomy over your own embodied experience, our team can guide you toward a relationship with yourself built on curiosity rather than judgment. Reach out today to schedule a consultation with our providers and start your journey toward healing.
