My Life in Culture: Artist Conor Harrington
My Life in Culture: Artist Conor Harrington

Sarah Finnan

This Shankill bungalow underwent a thoughtful renovation that expanded the space both up and out
This Shankill bungalow underwent a thoughtful renovation that expanded the space both up and out

Megan Burns

A stylist’s guide to the best winter coats for AW24
A stylist’s guide to the best winter coats for AW24

Sinead Keenan

A designer shares her top interiors tweaks with big impact and minimal DIY
A designer shares her top interiors tweaks with big impact and minimal DIY

Tanya Neufeld Flanagan

The property round-up: 3 stunning Irish homes on the market for under €2.7 million
The property round-up: 3 stunning Irish homes on the market for under €2.7 million

Sarah Finnan

Drumroll, please: Unfolding the winner of The Pitch 2024
Drumroll, please: Unfolding the winner of The Pitch 2024

IMAGE

Join our networking event: The Christmas Special: ‘Celebrating Achievement’
Join our networking event: The Christmas Special: ‘Celebrating Achievement’

IMAGE

Join our networking event: The Christmas Special: ‘Celebrating Achievement’
Join our networking event: The Christmas Special: ‘Celebrating Achievement’

IMAGE

New season scents: The Irish family-owned candle brand to know
New season scents: The Irish family-owned candle brand to know

IMAGE

WIN a Meaghers Luxury Beauty Box worth €429
WIN a Meaghers Luxury Beauty Box worth €429

IMAGE

Image / Editorial

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


By Erin Lindsay
12th Feb 2020
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:


Read more: ‘It’s not all rainbows’: Ashley Graham on the ‘messy’ realities of early motherhood

Read more: A letter to my baby as I prepare to go back to work

Read more: First same-sex marriage to take place in Northern Ireland today