When any life stage is a marketing opportunity the lack of innovation, sustained investment and attention given to the Menopause is a huge missed opportunity for the industry.

Research from Menopause Mandate, the campaign group focused on improving education and support for women going through the Menopause, underlines the scale of the issue. Their recent survey of nearly 20,000 women aged 45-65 has shed light on the numerous challenges women face during this stage of life, including the alarming lack of support for many of the most debilitating symptoms.

The study revealed that 97% of respondents experience menopausal symptoms, with the majority reporting psychological issues such as brain fog (82%), low mood (72%), reduced motivation (67%), and anxiety or panic attacks (62%). In addition to these, many women endure physical symptoms like night sweats, hot flushes, and weight gain.

While many brands will mark World Menopause Day today, questions remain as to how committed brands are to unstereotyping older women and how seriously the industry is taking this issue. Questions that extend to the broader malaise surrounding gendered ageism in advertising.

As Emilie Pine writes in Notes to Self: Essays: "If getting my period was ‘becoming a woman’, I fear that the end of my period is the end of being a woman. As I think about bleeding, and not bleeding, I realise that the cultural silence around female blood is part of a much wider problem – a total shitstorm – of how women’s bodies are imagined, aestheticised and policed to be a certain way. Any variations from the approved script render you invisible and silent."

A red thread runs between the failure to create products, services and advertising that adequately reflect and meet the needs of older women and gendered ageism. An advertising industry which has for decades instructed women to ‘fight the signs of ageing’ retains the talents of very few women over 50. In creative departments, so small is the number of female creative directors over 50 that there isn’t even a data point to share. If we measure what we treasure then it is clear the advertising and marketing industry isn’t taking older women seriously. With this in mind, we asked industry experts, if the industry is still guilty of viewing the Menopause as a marketing moment and if brands should be doing more to recognise the universal experience.

Brands marketing for the menopause are damned if they do and damned if they don’t! And for some, they’re just damned. Case in point, this week, I got served an ad on Insta for ‘Victory Oil’. The words ‘vulva’ and ‘vagina’ jumped out and I was too terrified to click on the ad, for fear of the algorithm following me, as I am now officially being served ads for a dry vagina! Welcome to menopause advertising at its most epic and insensitive! I mean, as if the menopause isn’t bad enough without some random ad hitting you at 7.00am as you wake up to your gentle morning scroll, telling you that you need help with your dry foof – “this is like a secret holy grail for menopausal women! It’s made a massive difference after only 1 week of use” they tell me.

Now, amongst the long list of menopausal symptoms from hot sweats during client meetings, heart palpitations, a widening middle, intermittent psychotic feelings of uncontrollable rage and sallow, ageing skin, a dry foof is way down my list of priorities. And therein lies the conundrum. Being served a menopause ad is like being served a Saga ad. It reminds you that you’re getting old. That you’re at that stage of life that you’d possibly looked at when you were younger as ‘forever away’. So, whatever you do as a marketer of menopause products and services, you risk making your audience just a little bit sad, even if we are technically receptive to whatever you are selling. For me, you can keep your ‘Victory Oil’ (what am I even victorious over?), I’m off to spend £178 on a 30ml tube of Vipers Blood serum to make me look twenty-three again.

Brands love a moment; a date in the diary to show their unexpected allegiance too.  11th January is World Step In A Puddle day, apparently. Or 9th May is World Lost Sock Day.   And we’re currently in the middle of Shetland Wool Week.  Marketing at its not-so-finest.  But when there is a genuine cause to rally around, a reason to draw attention to a matter we do it rather well.

The menopause taboo is finally being broken, and our industry is playing an important role.  I get invited to things now. I see it on the agenda. It’s becoming normalised - just as Always did with periods 10 years ago.  But me-no-pause: there’s work still to be done. 

From the brand side, there seems to be three types of approaches;The Money Spinner - they see human interest and offer poor services at high cost with high disappointment. There are those that will give October the Cursory Poke with some light-weight messaging.  Imagine Estro-Jen and Berry’s making "Hot Flash Fudge" or "Cool Down Caramel” ice-cream?  But within the third approach there lies hope.  Some brands like Holland & Barrett and Boots are taking this seriously - educating, lobbying, busting myths and practising what they preach internally. 

Honestly, I’m delighted that menopause is a marketing moment. At. Long. Last.

Too long has it been seen as something that is weird or shameful, despite the fact 50% of the globe will experience it.

Creating a named day to create heat around an issue is a proven strategy. Just look in the last month of the great success of World Mental Health Day in driving awareness about mental health and Movember about men’s health (Ok – it’s a month, not a day.)

But what we need is not to have menopause only talked about only on a single day.

This is a big lifestage. According to GenM, there are 15.5 million women going through this transition and it lasts for up to 15 years. We need to use the momentum created by a successful marketing moment to create enduring change for women and opportunities for brands.

There’s a lot to be improved in how we serve women with the menopause. Even understanding that there is such a thing as ‘perimenopause’, which is the stage that happens before. What we need is more insight that identifies more untapped needs and results in brilliant new products and services.

So, let’s leapfrog off menopause (and perimenopause) being a marketing moment to being many marketing moments. Moments that serve many different women with different experiences at different phases, all across the year.

And hopefully we can move from just spotlighting the issues to serving the right solutions.

I’ve been pretty candid about my ‘coming of rage’ hormonal phase – and definitely the subjects of my ire can be brands that just frankly take the piss out of menopausal women, desperate for solutions, and prepared to fork out unseemly sums ‘just in case it might help’. But uncharacteristically (perhaps) in this case, I want to champion the brands that are making a difference, even if their activities aren’t always accompanied by fanfares. I felt extraordinarily seen by Tena’s ‘Last Lonely Menopause’ ad, and, as a brand, they are actively investing in insight and support for menopausal women. Holland & Barrett have been investing in menopause for years, and fund the Menopause Mandate Support Line, which provides free 15-minute conversations with a menopause nurse. Boots have also been regularly spending money on menopause awareness, including financially backing our ‘It’s a right laugh’ comedy night, and recently hosting an amazing morning with Macmillan called ‘Journeys through cancer and menopause’. In all these cases, the impetus comes from the top – executive cheerleaders (and let’s be clear, they aren’t only women) who are taking a stand and choosing to consistently keep up the noise. So, yeah, there are chancers and charlatans, but there are also good ‘uns – so this WMD, let’s celebrate them.

The last three years have seen a notable rise in conversations about menopause, but the question remains—are brands treating it as just another marketing moment? While awareness has certainly increased, there’s still much work to be done. The focus needs to shift from surface-level campaigns to addressing the unmet needs of both women and healthcare professionals (HCPs).

A 2022 study revealed that many physicians aren’t adequately trained to provide the standard of care women transitioning through menopause require. This is where real change can happen: through better education for HCPs, so they can foster more meaningful dialogue with women, understand their specific needs, and provide tailored treatment options. Brands have a role to play in supporting this shift, helping to educate and empower women with relevant, insightful campaigns.

But menopause is not a monolithic experience. It’s highly individual, and brands that treat it as a moment to capitalize on without depth or authenticity risk missing the mark. The real opportunity lies in shaping culture—creating campaigns that reflect the diverse realities of menopause, break down stigmas, and drive genuine impact. It’s time to move beyond talk and into meaningful, lasting action.