Gordon Ramsay Ushers I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Into the GLP-1 Era

Few celebrity chefs are as instantly recognisable as Gordon Ramsay, whose razor-sharp tongue and unforgiving food standards made him famous on shows like Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen.

Now, the blunt British chef has been recruited by I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter (ICBINB) to lead the brand into a new era following its biggest product overhaul in decades.

Sales of the Flora-owned brand have been steadily declining over the last 10 years as consumer tastes swung away from processed margarine-style spreads and towards natural butter and plant-based alternatives.

Now, ICBINB wants to ride a new trend, appealing to foodie, health-savvy consumers. As part of this, it has the 12% of Americans now using GLP-1 appetite suppressant drugs, which call for nutrient-dense diets, in its sights.

Flora Food Group CMO Olga Osminkina Jones, who joined the business in 2023 from Reckitt, told ADWEEK the new ICBINB solves for the “tension between taste and health” with a creamier consistency designed for cooking. It also includes vitamins A, D, E, B12, and Omega‑3s, as well as 80% less saturated fat per serving than dairy butter.

With a reputation for delivering iconic ads, like its Fabio commercials of the 90s and its 00s collaboration with late Black Sabbath rocker Ozzy Osbourne, Osminkina said she wanted the brand’s 2026 revival to be fronted by an ambassador who could deliver the same cultural relevancy that made it famous.

“We also needed someone highly discerning and with a lot of credibility in the culinary space, so that, combined with his personality and edgy humor… pointed at Gordon right away,” she explained.

“He tried the product and engaged in the conversation,” the marketer added. “Gordon doesn’t support anything he doesn’t believe in himself, and frankly, that was really important to us. So when he got excited about the new product, we knew this was a match made in heaven.”

More than a celebrity ambassador

Created by Salt, the campaign will debut with a TV commercial on Fox, which shows Ramsay using the product on one of his shows, as some nervous ICBINB brand execs hover on set. After he samples a spoon, he pauses before launching into a bleeper-laden rave about the spread. There’s even a riff on the chef’s iconic “idiot sandwich” joke in the form of a “genius panini.” 

As well as TV and digital executions, cross-promotional placement will see ICBINB feature across Ramsay’s culinary universe, including his Idiot Sandwich YouTube show, as well as on Next Level Chef and its digital companion show Next Level Kitchen. 

An ICBINB dedicated cooking site will launch too, featuring recipes from Ramsay such as grilled corn ribs and spicy chicken pasta.

“This isn’t [just] a celebrity brand campaign,” said Osminkina Jones. “Gordon is a big part of our reinvention ecosystem, and we’re reimagining what ICBINB will mean for future generations.”

A GLP-1 shift

Part of this reinvention is geared towards users of GLP-1 drugs, with Americans spending $40 billion on the appetite-suppressing drug in 2024, according to Grand View Research. 

By 2030, that figure is projected to triple, and it could soar even more thanks to a daily pill alternative currently being rolled out by Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk.

ICBINB joins Danone and Nestlé in developing products and marketing strategies to cater to people who are eating less but asking more of their meals.

“It’s no longer a trend, it’s a shift that’s here to stay,” said Osminkina Jones. “As a brand that catered to health for many years, we’ve made it our personal responsibility to deliver the product that is most relevant.”

As ICBINB passes the torch from Fabio to Ramsay, the goal is to make it the go-to spread for health-conscious home chefs, said the CMO. This is just the start of a long-term platform built to spark conversation and ultimately drive strong sales.