I recently wrote a blog post about what NOT to ask a new mom because some of the same old questions can be a bit frustrating, sometimes invasive and sometimes insensitive. But when I scrolled my news feed at 5:30 am, whilst nursing my infant, I came across this Buzzfeed article, showing an ad that was rejected by ABC to run during the Oscars.
The ad was from the company Frida, announcing a new postpartum line of items to help a new mom. The commercial itself, very poignantly, shows a mother who has just come home from the hospital trying to navigate her own self care. She is woken from her sleep by her newborn crying. She stumbles to the bathroom and fumbles with the enormous pad, the peri bottle, layering the witch hazel pads onto her giant diaper pad, and then she toddles back to care for her newborn, with a clearly achy body from giving birth.
For any one who has given birth, it’s moments that no mom could ever forget and the commercial really brings you back to those moments in time. Then, the commercial cuts to an image of Frida’s new postpartum line. That’s the commercial in a nutshell. The commercial that wasn’t allowed to be aired.
After watching the rejected ad, it hit me! No wonder why new moms are unprepared and why people don’t know what to say or what to ask or what to do for a new mom. THIS is real life, but it’s rejected. It’s hidden. It’s shamed by being hidden. It truly puts into perspective that just as women have made so many steps forward, our realities are still shoved to the backburner. Meanwhile, ads selling Cadillacs and highlighting famous people are continually streamed. However, when it comes to someone not famous, or showing something so blatantly raw, it’s not appropriate for the Oscars audience…ya know, the everyday people who are the very reason that the Oscars can even exist.
This Frida commercial highlights just what women need to see—this is what’s relatable and this is what our life actually is. This is what would show people that haven’t had babies in a long time, or people who haven’t had babies at all, or any one with a pulse, that motherhood is tough from the get-go. That this is WHY we need more attention paid to postpartum care and maternity leave, and so on.
This type of reaction by ABC and the Oscars proves that we have a long way to go. This commercial does not display anything crude or outlandish, it simply shows reality and something we can use to make our reality easier to bear. So, instead of rejecting it, let’s accept it, and if it makes you uncomfortable to watch it, then change the channel. But, it won’t change the fact that this is real life and deserves real attention paid to it.
