Do weight loss pills have a Hollywood “alli”? Glaxo, the pharmaceutical company that makes the popular weight loss supplement Alli, is financing a documentary about our eating habits. The company is going to partner with the Creative Coalition, a nonprofit social and political advocacy organization that has backing by entertainers like Alec Baldwin, Tim Daly and Susan Sarandon.
A spokesman for Glaxo says that an Academy Award-winning director will be named on January 25 at the Sundance Film Festival.
The Creative Coalition recently released a documentary directed by Barry Levinson called “PoliWood,” which examined politically active actors during the 2024 Republican and Democratic conventions. But, their latest project is raising some eyebrows. People are wondering if it will be a glorified infomercial for Alli.
“The filmmakers can make a decision about whether Alli is important,” says Rachel Ferdinando, a Glaxo marketing executive. “We want it to be entirely transparent; we want it to have integrity. It’s a fantastic outcome if people are simply more educated.”
Glaxo executives said there would be a signed agreement that gives full creative control to the director and the Creative Coalition team.
Those involved would like to emulate the success of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” which only cost $1.5 million to make and brought in $50 million worldwide.
Ferdinando summarized the film as “the ‘Inconvenient Truth’ of mindless eating,” a “behind-closed-doors, fly-on-the-wall” approach that examines the unhealthy relationships people have with food.
(via: New York Times)