Watch the Seasonique commercial.

Seasonique is a birth control pill that has really cool advertising. It’s hip and edgy and it connects with me. But it’s not targeting me. What is targeting me is Premarin (vaginal dryness cream) which has advertising that reminds me of my grandmother (it would be way too frumpy and old fashioned for my Mother). I just don’t get it. The folks that are promoting Premarin are making a deliberate effort to treat me as though I’m about to enter the nursing home and that pisses me off.  And it turns me off.

Click to enlarge

Do they think if they treated me like a vibrant and active individual that I would miss their message? How can they have missed the mark so dramatically? And yet they’re not alone. These marketers are making assumptions based on women of thirty years ago. They’re confusing 75 year olds with today’s 50 year old. And every day our demographic becomes younger at heart – and in mind.

Don’t get me wrong, I know some frumpy 50 year olds but even they are fighting the aging stereotype – they just don’t know the best way to feature their own assets. So if you figure that maybe 5% of Premarin’s target audience is pleased by the simpy, “restful”, “shuffleboard anyone?” ad addressing vaginal dryness and the other 95% of us would see the ad and pass it by assuming it’s something for a much older woman you’ve got to figure that they’re wasting a whole lot of money and missing the bulk of those who could truly use their product – nice going!

Click to enlarge

And at the risk of being indelicate – most of you are going to need a product like this. Dryness is an issue. Pretty much unavoidable and most unpleasantly uncomfortable. There are tons of “lubricating” products out there – but you really need one designed for vaginal dryness. It makes a huge difference. The Premarin ad – seen in an issue of People Magazine (don’t even get me started on the irony of “nursing home” fodder in People) tipped me off that such a product existed. But since they want me to feel old and since I’d have to get my doc to write a script I did what most women my age would do – I went on line and found a competitor. Their ads aren’t great (much less offensive than Premarin but not perfect by any means) and I didn’t need a prescription – I sent for some. And it really helps! Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have trouble finding a solution that works for you – I’ll be happy to share my solution with you.