An influencer gained followers as she documented her weight loss. Then she revealed she was on a GLP-1
In a YouTube video titled 'Let's talk: Therapy, GLP1 & The Truth About My recent Weight Loss," influencer Janelle Rohner told followers she'd been taking a GLP-1.
Influencer Janelle Rohner expanded her social-media following in recent years as she documented her weight-loss journey, sharing tricks like using bell peppers as the 'bread" for sandwiches and selling a $200 course on macronutrients along the way.
But when she told followers last month that some of the recent weight loss was due to the use of a GLP-1, online commenters quickly soured on her.
'If you're in the fat loss world and taking a GLP1, you must disclose it," one commenter wrote below the YouTube video Rohner used to reveal her GLP-1 use. 'There's nothing wrong with taking one but not disclosing it WHILE SELLING FAT LOSS COURSES is slimy as hell."
The situation demonstrates the double-edged nature of influencers' relationships with their audience, whose affection and trust comes with certain expectations. The incident is also another scene of GLP-1s' disruptive effect in weight-loss businesses and food marketing.
In her video, which she promoted from her TikTok account with more than 5 million followers, Rohner said the message was hard for her to record.
'If you've been following me for a while, you know I've tried it all—keto, macros, workouts, lifestyle shifts—and I have always shared what's worked and what hasn't," she said.
Rohner went on to say she'd been getting a lot of questions about what's changed more recently. Her answer: She had worked with a doctor over the past year to 'add a GLP-1" to her plan.
'GLP-1s are not magic, they don't change your lifestyle overnight," she added.
Following a slew of negative comments, Rohner said in a TikTok video she was sorry if followers felt deceived and offered refunds to anyone who bought a class in the prior 11 months.
Rohner's 'Macros 101" course, which refers to macronutrients like carbohydrates, fats and proteins, included a worksheet, access to a Facebook Group and a pre-recorded class, according to a page that was previously linked from Rohner's website. The link to the course appears to have been removed from her site.
Then Rohner continued on to regular content: a high-protein copycat Disneyland Dole Whip recipe, a T.J. Maxx shopping excursion, a Harry Potter Butterbeer Flavored SkinnyPop popcorn taste test. The comments were again full of rage—with Ozempic jokes and questions about her PR strategy.
'Does it taste like fraud?" one comment on the popcorn video reads.
Rohner told The Wall Street Journal that sales for her 'Macros 101" have dwindled since its creation four years ago, with fewer than 30 sales in the past year. She said she hasn't marketed the course in more than two years.
Rohner said she still wholeheartedly backs the classes and continues to track macros and work out daily.
'There is no part of me that doesn't believe in those classes," she said in an email.
Rohner didn't initially disclose her decision to begin taking a GLP-1 because she wasn't mentally prepared at the time to handle millions of people's opinions on her body and weight, she said, adding that in retrospect she understands she should have been more open.
She also said she has given full refunds to anyone who purchased the course in the past 11 months and reached out for one.
The situation has left followers and critics asking if followers could have a legal case if they had purchased the course.
'I don't really see this is a big legal problem, or a potential one," said Robert Freund, a lawyer focused on advertising and e-commerce issues. 'It's really just a PR crisis."
Hannah Taylor, deputy managing partner and a partner in the advertising, marketing and public relations group at law firm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, said proving an influencer acted fraudulently is a high bar because many jurisdictions require showing that the defendant had an intent to deceive. False advertising is typically easier to prove.
Taylor said if someone had purchased the course believing that it led to Rohner's weight loss, when in fact the medicine was the cause, that could be a material omission that could subject the influencer to false advertising liability.
Though social-media commenters have criticized Rohner's return to regular programming with her posts, her strategy could be wise, said Kate Stewart, an assistant professor of communications at Jacksonville State University who focuses on areas such as public relations and influencers.
'People that get canceled come back from getting canceled so quickly in 2025 that it's almost astonishing," Stewart said. Rohner might choose to make enough new content to shove down the old content and delete the mention of the GLP-1 eventually, or start making new content in a different niche, potentially focusing on being on a GLP-1, she said.
But for a contingent of followers, trust with Rohner could be lost.
'As an influencer, you have to stand on your authenticity and your credibility," Stewart said. If you wait to disclose your use of a weight-loss drug, 'you've already hurt your reputation, and you've potentially hurt it past the point of recovery."
Write to Megan Graham at megan.graham@wsj.com
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