Let’s face it, there is nothing cool, glamorous or fun about menopause. Pre, peri, post… all of it rings of insane women aging not-so-gracefully.
This idea of rebranding started when speaking to a dear (male) friend that I have known for many years. We were at a big party and it seemed more than one woman asked to have the AC turned up. Which turns to the obvious conversation about menopause. My friend said he thought that the name was the problem. Bad branding if you will. Let us dissect it for a moment. Men (bad start) O (extraneous letter) Pause… hmmm what does that MEAN?
Being the wiseass that I am, I asked “What should we call it then? Irrational bitches that sweat too much?” His answer was charming, “A better name would be – I will see you next Tuesday.” Cute right?
What name would better describe menopause with more dignity?
Let’s think about it this. Is the problem really in the branding? Or is the assumption that, not unlike when women are younger and everything is blamed on ‘she’s on the rag’, that a woman of ‘a certain age’ is always in the hot seat (no pun) when her behavior is erratic because she is doing ‘The Menopause Thang!’ (was this a James Brown song?)
Back to the rebranding idea. I once worked on a pitch for an erectile disfunction drug. A pharma co. spent a million dollars on a focus group exploring the idea of renaming erectile disfunction. What these geniuses came up with was that it was not, in fact, the name that was the probem, but more the condition itself. DUH!
So, my friends, I think it is safe to say that renaming anything that basically sucks does not change it’s level of suckage.
Now I need to go and turn the AC to the temp of a meat locker so I can sleep tonight.
i could cry but i don't have time 