The most clever part of a new ad for an estrogen vaginal insert called Imvexxy is a shot of a gorgeous gray-haired woman sitting among lofty bubbles in a copper tub with her handsome paramour. Since the campaign is selling a product meant to ease painful sex due to menopause, this take is a funny jab at the bewildering and much-commented-upon shot in Cialis commercials where a Boomer man and woman are holding hands in separate bathtubs. To us, this Imvexxy ad image is meant to say, “There’s no obstacle between you and your lover. We’re going to put you right in the action.”

The whole thing is an extended metaphor, filled with double entendres and a definite “Bridgerton” vibe.

The new ad tries hard to show its sense of humor. The campaign is called “Long May She Reign,” and the whole thing is an extended metaphor, filled with double entendres and a definite “Bridgerton” vibe. But it begins with somewhat startling frankness. “Your vagina is queen,” the voiceover exclaims while we see a crown (digitally) hovering over the lap of a beautiful woman, who apparently is the human iteration of regal lady parts. (By the way, has “vagina” ever been said in a U.S. commercial before? A Google search is unclear.)

A shot of a bouquet of flowers drying up before our eyes illustrates all too well the vaginal dryness so many of us experience. From here, we get into wink-wink wordplay. The little suppository will “renew her kingdom!” we’re told (read: help her get wet again). The narration over the image of the human queen dancing at a ball and meeting a hunky man (who later ends up in her tub) is “…so that she may rule the ball….and the bedroom.”

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Invexxy Ad: Points for Effort

We are completely in favor of a freer discussion about menopause and its symptoms, and we’re especially happy that pharmaceutical companies are eager to address some of our issues. As we all know, there’s probably no greater stigma women deal with than menopause. No one wants to talk about it; studies show many health care professionals aren’t comfortable discussing it with their patients. We hear from readers all the time that they enter menopause knowing very little about what they’re facing because mothers, sisters, and friends stayed mum about their own experiences.

It’s no small thing to show an older woman who is sexual and sexy.

On the website Shoot, Robert Goldrich praises the new Imvexxy ad campaign for starting an important conversation. “The best way to tackle an ignored medical issue and underserved population of patients is to stop the stigma in its tracks,” he says. “Be bold about the fact that women over 50+ years old are vibrant and in control of their lives. Talk about the problem, and more importantly, the solution, in empowering ways that re-contextualize what a menopausal woman looks, acts, and feels like in 2021.”

It’s no small thing to show an older woman who is sexual and sexy. That is how you get a society thinking about women in a way that reflects reality, not age-old stereotypes. So, maybe we cringe a little when we watch this commercial along with our kids or grandkids, but if we can make it through decades of Viagra commercials and those silly Cialis bathtubs, we can certainly do this.

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