Wednesday Bubble: Rebranding Menopause – Guest Post

Posted by Liz on Dec 3, 2008 in menopause | 1 comment

Today’s Wednesday’s Bubble is written by my BBFF, Amy, blogger extraordinaire and author of ‘I could cry but I don’t have time,‘ ‘Leaving the zipcode,’ and a Wednesday blogger at ’50-something Moms.’

Honestly, if you haven’t checked out Amy’s work, you’re missing out. So I am very happy and honored that Amy agreed to burst the bubble about Menopause, the brand. You’re in for a real treat!

Let’s face it, there is nothing cool, glamorous or fun about menopause. Oh sure, there are some who think so, and they would be the creators of the ever ridiculous Menopauseland website. (you do have to love the music on this site, though)

Pre, peri, post… it all rings of irrational women aging not-so-gracefully.

This idea of rebranding started when speaking to a dear (male) friend that I have known for many years. We were at a big party and it seemed more than one woman asked to have the AC turned up. Which always seems to turn the conversation to menopause. My friend said he thought that the name was the problem, bad branding if you will. Let us dissect it for a moment. Men (bad start) O (extraneous letter) Pause… hmmm what does that MEAN?

Being the wiseass that I am, I asked “What should we call it then? Irrational bitches that sweat too much?” His answer was charming, “A better name would be – I will see you next Tuesday.” Cute, right?

What name would better describe menopause with more dignity?

Let’s think about this. Is the problem really in the branding? Or is the assumption that, not unlike when women are younger and everything is blamed on ‘being on the rag’, that a woman of ‘a certain age’ is always in the hot seat (no pun) when her behavior is erratic because she is doing ‘The Menopause Thang!’ (was this a James Brown song?)

Let us get back to the rebranding idea. I once worked on a pitch for an erectile dysfunction drug. A pharma co. spent a million dollars on a focus group exploring the idea of renaming erectile dysfunction. What these geniuses came up with was that it was not, in fact, the name that was the problem, but more the condition itself. DUH!

So, my friends, I think it is safe to say that renaming anything that basically sucks does not change its level of suckage.

Now you will have to excuse me, I need to go and turn the AC to the temp of a meat locker so I can sleep tonight.