One of the most feared and least verbalized situations surrounding childbirth has become the focus of the new campaign by Andrex, a British toilet paper brand owned by Kimberly-Clark. Under the message “Push like you’re pooing,” the company has launched an action aimed at normalizing the fear of defecating during childbirth and reducing the anxiety that many women feel around it.
The campaign is based on a specific fact: 75% of women fear having a bowel movement during childbirth. However, midwives and health professionals point out that when it occurs, it is usually a sign that the woman is pushing correctly using the right muscles. Andrex builds the entire campaign narrative on this distance between perception and reality.
Midwives and health professionals point out that, when it occurs, it is a sign that the woman is pushing well.
Devised by the FCB London agency, the campaign will be activated for two months in the United Kingdom through television, cinema, outdoor and social networks. In addition, the brand has worked together with The Positive Birth Company to provide specialized advice and reinforce the informative focus of the initiative.
The main piece, 120 seconds long, shows pregnant women speaking openly about their fears before childbirth and how their perception changed after living the experience. The spot incorporates real searches carried out on Google, reflecting intimate doubts that many women ask in private during pregnancy, as well as UGC videos starring new mothers sharing their experiences and emotions after giving birth.
- Director: King She
- Producer: Somesuch
The campaign is integrated into the “Get Comfortable” platform, with which Andrex has been trying for years to normalize conversations related to bathrooms and bodily functions. In previous stages, the brand had addressed issues such as the use of the bathroom in offices or schools, but now it raises the level of social discomfort by moving the focus to the context of childbirth.
Beyond the provocative tone of the creative concept, the campaign tries to find a complex balance: addressing a particularly sensitive body issue without falling into easy humor or excessively clinical treatment. The piece opts for a close and human approach, showing how what previously generated shame or anxiety ends up becoming, for many women, another anecdote of the experience of childbirth.
“Push like you’re pooing” will also be the last FCB London campaign for Andrex, because the Kimberly-Clark advertising account will soon pass into the hands of McCann. The farewell comes betting on the most uncomfortable and ambitious territory of the entire creative platform developed by the agency for the brand.
