26 Companies Caught for False Advertising of Diet Products Using "Olle Shot" and "Edible Wegovy" Claims

Exaggerated Claims Evoke Anti-Obesity Medications
About 600,000 Units Sold, Totaling 11.5 Billion Won
Celebrities, Pharmacists, and AI Images Used to Attract SNS Short-Form Viewers

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has detected 26 companies selling food products online that claimed to provide weight loss effects. These companies advertised their products using expressions that evoke anti-obesity medications, such as "Olle Shot" or "Edible Wegovy," and reportedly sold products worth about 11.5 billion won.

Photo of major false advertising. Ministry of Food and Drug Safety

On July 23, the Ministry announced that it had conducted a focused inspection of online food sales in response to the rising demand for diet products in the summer. As a result, 26 businesses were found to have violated the Food Labeling and Advertising Act. The Ministry requested the relevant local governments to impose administrative penalties and has filed criminal complaints against the companies.

This inspection mainly targeted olive oil foods promoted through trendy weight loss methods such as "Olle Shot" (consuming olive oil with lemon juice) and the "Natural Wegovy·Mounjaro Recipe" (consuming olive oil with boiled eggs), as well as advertisements using expressions reminiscent of anti-obesity medications, such as "Edible Wegovy" or "GLP-1" (glucagon-like peptide-1, a hormone that suppresses appetite). It also focused on short-form SNS advertisements using images of celebrities, pharmacists, and AI-generated virtual persons.

The 26 companies that were caught were found to have sold approximately 600,000 units of their products through advertisements that included claims of disease prevention or treatment, caused confusion with medicines or health functional foods, made false or exaggerated statements, or misled consumers. Products related to Olle Shot were advertised as if they provided "detox," "delayed aging," "antioxidant," and "anti-inflammatory" effects in addition to weight loss. Some companies masked certain letters of the names "Wegovy" or "Mounjaro," or used "GLP-1" to make general food products appear similar to pharmaceuticals.

AI-Based SNS Unfair Advertising Structure. Ministry of Food and Drug Safety

These companies repeatedly exposed short-form videos on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, in which celebrities or pharmacists recommended the product, or AI-generated virtual human or body tissue images were used to promote claims such as "appetite suppression," "fat absorption blocking," and "body fat excretion." When users clicked on these videos, they were directed to the companies' sales pages. There were also cases where highly violative phrases such as "rapid weight loss in a short period" were used in the short-form ads, while such phrases were deleted or toned down on the connected sales pages to evade regulatory crackdowns.

The sale prices of the violative products ranged from a minimum of about 1.8 times to a maximum of about 27.5 times their purchase cost. One case involved a product purchased at about 2,000 won that was sold for as much as 60,000 won.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety urged consumers to exercise caution and not be misled by advertisements for food products sold online that claim effects at the level of pharmaceuticals, such as "edible Wegovy," "appetite suppressant," "fat eliminator," or "short-term weight loss."

An official from the Ministry stated, "We will continue to strengthen inspections of new advertising methods, including SNS short-form ads and AI-generated content, and will take strict action against any violations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.