Childhood bedwetting is nothing to be ashamed about, says Kimberly-Clark

Between diapers for infants and the elderly lies a market segment that has unfortunately been stigmatised—children between ages four and 12 who have finished potty training but still wet the bed.

Misconceptions around the phenomenon and unrealistic social expectations often prevent parents from addressing the issue or buying products that could help their children. Ignoring or being ashamed of the problem, however,  can have an adverse impact on the child’s self-esteem, emotional wellbeing, and interpersonal relationships with family and friends.

A new global campaign for Kimberly-Clark’s Goodnites from FCB Aotearoa aims to take the shame out of childhood incontinence and persuade parents to manage the situation with products like Goodnites, instead of wishing it away.

The campaign consists of three 90-second audio spots features children who talk about their parents’ difficult adult tasks that take a long time to do. For instance, moving out of their parents’ house, getting a degree, or getting over an ex. The message being driven home is that some people just need more time.

The campaign features a mix of real children’s and adult voices fused together using AI to challenge the notion of how old a child grappling with bladder incontinence could be. FCB partnered with studio Eardrum to ensure that the clarity, pronunciation, and delivery of each child was as adult as possible.

Speaking about the campaign, Patricia Corsi, chief growth officer at Kimberly-Clark said, “The world judges people for the ages at which they do things, and parents judge children for the ages at which they wet the bed. I love how this campaign uses this universal truth and takes an adult approach to tackle what many think is a child’s problem. Bedwetting happens, but embarrassment does not have to.”

Gaetano Perry and Tim Thach, the creative team behind the work observed, “You might think… A campaign of 90-second radio ads? What is this… the 90s? But judging how long something takes is what this campaign is all about.”

Leisa Wall, chief creative officer at FCB Aotearoa added, “The work in this category is typically quite childish. So, I love how this project tackles a social stigma in a way that is sophisticated and thoughtful, made specially for the parents of bedwetters, now and in the future.”

Campaign’s take: Incontinence is an uncomfortable topic but the tenor of the campaign—confident and wryly humorous—papers over the embarrassment inherent in such a discussion. The use of radio is ideal since visuals would simply not work as well, given the context of the campaign.

By linking bedwetting with other more relatable ‘late bloomer’ episodes, the campaign goes a long way towards evoking empathy to those unfortunate enough to be afflicted. It also effortlessly shifts the dial from a narrow focus on the problem to the product. Considering this has been conceived as a global campaign, we wonder about the challenge of keeping the campaign relevant and engaging. While the subject at hand is a difficult discussion topic everywhere, social mores on what is and is not acceptable could vary wildly across different markets.

CREDITS

Client: Kimberly-Clark
Agency: FCB Aotearoa
Chief creative officer: Leisa Wall               
Copywriter: Gaetano Perry
Art director: Tim Thach
Media agency: Publicis Media Chicago
Production company: Eardrum
Director: Ralph van Dijk               
Producer: Emily Burns                                 
Sound design: Eardrum
Sound Engineers: Myles Lowe, Madelyn Tait & Paul Taylor
Soundtrack: c/o Audio Network