Ad for postpartum products rejected by the Oscars for being ‘too graphic’

Frida is a US business that sells products for women after they give birth

A company that sells postpartum products for new mothers has shared an ad that they say was rejected by ABC and the Oscars for being “too graphic” for viewers.

Frida Mom, which sells labour and recovery products for women who have recently given birth, as well as baby products, shared the ad on their Instagram page, and said that the ad had been submitted for screening during the ad breaks of this years’ Oscar award ceremony. The ad was rejected, according to the CEO Chelsea Hirschhorn, who spoke to Today Parents, for being ‘too graphic’.

No feminine hygiene products

The company was emailed a list of guidelines from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences stating that commercials including “political candidates/positions, religious or faith-based messages/positions, guns, gun shows, ammunition, feminine hygiene products, adult diapers, condoms, or haemorrhoid remedies” are prohibited from being shown during the ceremony.

Friday argued in their Instagram post that the ad deserved to be shown. “It’s just a new mom, home with her baby and her new body for the first time,” it said.

The ad shows a woman who has recently given birth waking in the night as her baby cries. The mother makes her way to the bathroom with her postpartum underwear on, and goes to the toilet, all the while clearly struggling to move easily. She cleans herself and switches out her hygiene products, before making her way to her crying baby.

“Powerful and necessary”

Comments on the Instagram post were overwhelmingly positive. Many followers of the page supported the ad, saying that it was an “honest representation of the experience”, and that showing the ad was “powerful and necessary”. One mother commented: “We need to stay united in normalising every aspect of a woman’s journey and allowing us to be prepared either for own sake or to support the women that are going through it.”

Watch the ad in full below:

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