AMV tackles the menopause to win Channel 4’s £1m Diversity in Advertising award

Davina McCall’s Channel 4 documentary series has been a catalyst for many high profile women to talk about the menopause, putting this previously taboo topic much higher up the news agenda.

Just as McCall’s latest show goes on air, Tena and AMV BBDO have won this year’s C4 Diversity in Advertising prize with a campaign that presents the menopause as a second coming of age. All the mid-life clichés are in there, but they are for once woven into a more nuanced story, told through the relationship between a mother and daughter.

Veriça Djurdjevic, chief revenue officer at Channel 4, said: “AMV’s ad for Tena is a game-changing take on the narrative around the menopause. It perfectly fulfilled our brief, using the central idea of talking about the menopause as a way of breaking the stigma and silence that exists around ageism in advertising.”

Lauren Peters and Augustine Cerf, creatives at AMV BBDO, said: “People going through the menopause also deserve their emotionally nuanced coming of age stories of rage, confusion, liberation and becoming. We hope this campaign can reinject humanity and beauty into the life stage, subvert damaging and demeaning stereotypes and help women feel better supported and less alone.”

The runner up was Eve Sleep (Creature London), which – alongside the other entrants, Baileys (VMLY&R), Shelter (Who Wot Why), Boots (VMLY&R) and Hidden Hearing (The Sharp Agency) – will be offered match funding of up to £250,000 each to encourage the campaigns into production.