One doctor is losing her lunch over a bizarre ad in the window of a new pizza-bagel joint in Midtown that encourages people to take a popular weight-loss drug after wolfing down a meal there.
“Bagizza now, Wegovy later,” reads the ad outside the soon-to-open restaurant.
“This is basically like advertising cigarettes and then underneath it being like ‘then a lung transplant for you.’ This is crazy,” Manhattan endocrinologist Dr. Rekha Kumar said in an Instagram video, after spotting the ad at Madison Avenue and East 49th Street.
Injectable weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic — clinically meant to treat diabetes — have skyrocketed in popularity, and have taken Hollywood by storm.
The new ad is making some New Yorkers hungry to learn more — and others, hangry.
“Oh that’s f—ing crazy. That’s insane. Is that a joint partnership? ‘We up the calories, you get rid of them.’” It feels like it encourages a certain mindset that’s probably not healthy,” said Michael Wood.
“It’s not the kind of thing we need right now. We’re already having an [obesity] crisis,” said Anelise Gick.
Owner Michael Park said he was just having a bit of edgy fun.
“Some people love it, some people hate it,” he told The Post. “It’s just meant to be a very New York kind of cynical joke.”
He joked he had yet to receive a cease-and-desist letter from Novo Nordisk, the maker of Wegovy.
Bagizza is an artisanal take on pizza bites many have eaten growing up, he said, with customizable pizza toppings on hand-rolled kettle-baked bagels.
The restaurant is due to open May 15, replacing the former Joseph Abboud menswear shop.
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