• by Fern Siegel , May 2, 2022

Women often power through menstrual pain — and Bayer thinks it’s time to stop.

The new “Comfort is Power” campaign by MullenLowe New York uses strong, realistic images to underscore how difficult menstruation can be for women.

The work, which builds on Midol’s “No Apologies” effort in 2021, created in collaboration with PR agency Twelvenote,  underscores how wrong it is to accept monthly pain. Also, by insisting that women are empowered by simply getting on with life, it puts undue pressure on them. And it distorts how strength is defined.

“We live in a society that has sadly normalized discomfort. A society that tells us pushing through pain makes us more powerful. One that suggests we don’t speak about the discomfort that menstruation brings every single month. Our aim with this new Midol work was to simply be truthful and for the work to be a reflection of all ethnicities, body types and gender expressions,” said Rebekah Pagis, managing director at MullenLowe NY. 

Midol is positioned in the integrated campaign as a comfort product, rather than a pain brand.

The campaign runs on TV, CTV, organic social, alongside digital influencers and retail partnerships.

Kelly Fanning, GM/VP of marketing, U.S. Pain Cardio at Bayer, said “Comfort” is an “evolution of our brand purpose and aims to continue to help shift Midol’s perception from just a pain reliever, to a brand that understands and normalizes menstrual symptoms.”

Separately, MullenLowe debuts its first work for KFC as its new strategic and creative lead agency of record. Aimed at millennials, the “finger-lickin’ good” food is the centerpiece, not the famous fictional colonel, who plays a supportive brand role.