Marketing Beat: The Menopause Shit Show
I have a brand new menopause symptom and put very simply, it’s ragefulness. A white hot fury that comes from absolutely nowhere.
Actually, no, that’s not entirely true. It’s generally triggered by frustrating situations and people being dickheads.
However, even I am sufficiently self-aware to understand that my new instinctive response to these minor provocations is extreme.
So, if someone authoritatively promised that a tablet/gel/pessary/suppository would curtail this new wrath reflex, I’d be very interested indeed. Oh, £60 you say, for 30 days? Right, er, well, it’s a bit spenny, but I’m desperate.
I’m also quite desperate to stop the word holes, the itching, the aching, the numb fingers, the three-hour night flushes, the voices in my head that tell me that I can’t cope with the responsibilities of my job. Have you got anything for that?
For many, menopause is something of a shit show. There are more than 50 symptoms, and many of these can take you to really dark places – depression, anxiety, overheating, hives, weight gain, itching, exhaustion, brain fog and so on.
So, anything that promises a panacea can prompt a ‘well, why the fuck not at least give it a go, because I feel like shit right now’.
And the sad truth is that there will always be opportunists that will prey on those in desperate need of support. And for every woman, non-binary and trans man struggling, there’s a product which claims to address their issues.
But too often, these products fail to fulfil the promised function. And in some instances, they can even cause damaging side effects.
As rageful as I am, I am most definitely not angry with all the brands and products out there. I’m a happy consumer of a number of products that I feel make a positive difference.
There is plenty of evidence that certain products can help (whether materials for clothes, beauty products or certain food or supplement products). That a thriving market even exists is testament to the amazing menopause champions who have fought to make menopause mainstream over the past few years.
I just hate the idea of manipulation and unfair price premiums – it’s just trading on our desperation. Because in an online environment lacking scrutiny and regulation, there are many companies who are unscrupulously peddling utter rubbish with spurious medicinal claims for unlicensed products.
And they skirt the fact there is insufficient clinical evidence with made-up testimonials. There’s clearly something of a Wild West going on. And even in the more regulated environments, I find it disappointing that almost identical products can be badged as menopause-friendly with an automatic price hike.
Thankfully, we are starting to see the regulators are cracking down on particularly egregious examples.
The ASA has recently upheld a number of rulings, with five brands being bollocked for misleading claims about the menopause.
There are ways that you can protect yourself from being sucked into inadvisable purchases, and it starts with research and ingredient perusal, because there definitely are ingredients and products that can help. In moisturisers, you can get signal peptides that stimulate collagen production, resveratrol has oestrogen-like properties that boost elasticity, and hyaluronic acid acts as a lubricant.
For supplements, menopause symptoms can be alleviated by the likes of vitamin B6, isoflavones, vitamin D and sage. And for clothes, there are plenty of materials that help to absorb and release excess heat and reduce itchiness, from pure cotton to bamboo, hemp, even wool and cashmere.
But don’t let that wool or cashmere be pulled over your eyes – these are ingredients and materials that exist across the board in products marketed to men and women of all ages.
So just make sure you aren’t being ripped off with a menopausal price bump. And remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.