How a Commercial During Golden Globes Raised All the Right Issues About Breastfeeding

The Golden Globes this year trended on the social media for a very unique reason. The “honesty” of a breastfeeding commercial has touched the hearts of women across the globe.

On Sunday, Frida Mom aired a stream of lactation commercial during the awards. This commercial showed the realities of what new mothers undergo while breastfeeding. The commercial was aimed at normalising breastfeeding, which is normal but not fully understood.

In the commercial, issues around breastfeeding are discussed by the characters. Right from, how “a good mother” is supposed to “know” everything about breastfeeding to getting their babies to latch on to their breasts and even to fear that they are not producing enough milk.

“Do I love my baby?” and “Am I a bad mom if I stop now?” were the questions the new mothers in the commercial ask themselves.

Frida Mom’s CEO Chelsea Hirschhorn said: “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 showed the very real struggle of new mothers like the lack of sleep, little understanding of the physiological effects of breastfeeding, emotional weight it carries and the irreversible changes that a mother’s body goes through after child birth.

Although the commercial was edited down to air during the Golden Globes, its makers believe the context remained unaffected.

A previous ad by Frida Mom, which showed a mother going to the bathroom, was banned by the Oscars last year citing graphic visuals as the reason. Then again, it was duly celebrated by the twiterati.