Best of 2021: Frida Mom's Golden Globes ad bares all to highlight the trials of breastfeeding

Through New Year's, we will be counting down our picks for 2021's 30 best ads and creative marketing ideas. At No. 15: When mothers' personal care brand Frida Mom made a bold statement at the Golden Globes. Last year, mother-focused personal care brand Frida Mom made a splash with its ad that was rejected from the Oscars. Featuring women struggling through the “fourth trimester” postpartum period, it included scenes of a new mom wearing her hospital-approved mesh underpants and sitting on the toilet to change her sanitary napkin. See the full list of 2021's Best Ads. ABC deemed that one too risqué to air and the brand didn't have backup at the time. This year, however, Frida Mom sets out again to show the sometimes harsh realities of new motherhood with a Golden Globes spot. Frida Mom’s first-ever TV commercial centers on the trials of breastfeeding. The extended version lifts the veil completely and shows real new mothers, with breasts completely bared as they feed their little ones. Intercut are scenes of the attendant headaches, such as women trying to alleviate their clogged milk ducts, exhausted from pumping and turning to cabbage leaves to quell soreness. Perhaps learning from the Oscars hiccup last year, the brand also created a 30-second cutdown of the ad (below), which already got the green light from NBC. The broadcast spot remains a bit daring, leaving scenes of women shirtless while nursing, their nipples under the cover of only a child or a breast pump. “We are committed to using our platform to share ‘HER’ story—the story of so many women—and are proud to spotlight the joys and challenges of motherhood with this groundbreaking new creative from Frida Mom,” said Ann Scheiner, senior VP-advertising salees at NBCUniversal in a statement. The ad promotes Frida Mom’s new Breast Care line, designed to help moms tackle breastfeeding problems. The product line includes an adjustable nursing pillow, lactation massager, a breast warmer, breast masks for lactation, engorgement and hydration, postpartum lactation gummies and a breast self-care kit. “The expectation that women prioritize milk-making above their own physical comfort is antithetical to the expectation that women continue for six months or more,” added Frida Mom CEO Chelsea Hirschorn. “The reality is that women are blindsided by the physicality of breastfeeding—raw nipples, uterine contractions, painful clogs—no one tells you that it can be as painful as your vaginal recovery. It’s all part of the postpartum physical experience—but it never gets any air time because the end supposedly justifies the means. The two don’t have to be mutually exclusive.” The ad was created out of Mekanism, and Rachel Morrison, cinematographer on Marvel’s “Black Panther” and “Mudbound,” directed the spot. Frida Mom isn't the latest mom-focused brand to go bold with its message. Earlier this week, Tommee Tippee debuted an ad also showcasing breastfeeding in all its glory (pumping and leaking included). See Frida Mom's would-be Oscars ad from last year below.

Best of 2021: Frida Mom's Golden Globes ad bares all to highlight the trials of breastfeeding

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