GlaxoSmithKline is forging new ground with the launch of Alli, their new weight loss drug. Not only is it the first over-the-counter diet pill approved by the Food and Drug Administration, GlaxoSmithKline is bending over backwards to calibrate consumer expectations and insure that Alli is not mistaken as a quick dieting fix.
Therein lies a key question. In the notoriously fad-mad weight loss market is there room for a drug that’s not a magic pill? While consumers may be enticed by an increased weight loss of 50% versus dieting alone, a closer look at consumer hopes, needs, fears and insecurities suggests that GlaxoSmithKline may be in for an uphill battle.
Specifically, Alli faces two major consumer challenges:
When it comes to the core target, will Alli be a catch-22?
In order for Alli to work, consumers must be willing to do some serious heavy lifting with diet and exercise. But if a consumer is truly committed to losing weight the old-fashioned way, will they want or need to take a pill? Why not just go to Weight Watchers?
Is the pain worth the gain (or loss, in this case)?
While the FDA has deemed Alli safe, it is not without side effects. These “treatment effects,” as the company calls them, include “gas with oily spotting, loose stools, and more frequent stools that may be hard to control” – in other words, the possibility of incontinence.
Consumers surely don’t want to die of heart failure due to a diet pill, but they also don’t want to live through the embarrassing consequences of losing control in all the wrong places. Again, if Alli requires dieting the old fashioned way anyway, is a few extra pounds worth the risk?
GlaxoSmithKline has taken an admirable high road by being honest with consumers to accurately set their expectations. But what the company may find is that consumer expectations for a diet pill are just fundamentally higher than what Alli, or any current diet pill, can deliver.
Carol Davies is a strategic consumer marketer with Fletcher Knight.
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