On Hot Flush TV television presenter, Davina McCall, and comedian, Morgana Robinson are selling an unexpected product – menopause. The ‘80s television shopping channel parody by Menopause Mandate, a coalition of activists, teamed up with Amazon, Great Guns, and director MarySue Masson, is using comedy as an awareness campaign this World Menopause Day.
The duo takes the audience through the litany of symptoms those going through perimenopause and menopause might face, not to mention the misdiagnoses and misinformation. The finale reveals that for a 99p donation, viewers can now “buy the menopause” on Amazon and leave their own brutally honest review of the experience – building a community-driven safe haven of trustworthy tips.
The shopping channel set-up thrives on interaction. Big character performances from Davina and Morgana lead the comedy. MarySue encouraged banter between the hosts, and, as Davina and Morgana were already friends, they were able to riff off one another naturally to bring a ‘live’ feel to the performance. By leaving the camera rolling longer than planned, Masson was able to capture extra improvised expressions and gags – including Morgana’s defiant final outburst, “FUCK off, Gareth.”
Whimsical aesthetics support the humour, acting as a counterpoint to the sincerity of the underlying message. The presenters come armed with over-the-top styling, wardrobe, hair and make-up (by Davina’s partner, Michael Douglas, and Danielle Farrington), while the parody TV studio provides a backdrop of visual gags with its fake window, pumped-up colour palette, and chintzy channel branding.
MarySue Masson commented, “When Laura [Gregory, founder of Great Guns] approached me with this concept – to sell The Menopause on Amazon, then ask people to leave terrible reviews – I was all in. Speaking as a woman who is currently experiencing this particularly crap ‘product’, this campaign hit me in the feels, and I knew it could be very funny. The power of this idea is in the contrast between the comedy, the gloss, and the grit of the message. Bringing a cracking idea to life with funny performances with a strong visual aesthetic, is quite literally my happy place. This is humour as activism – we got to laugh a lot while helping to land an important message.”
