First Vaginal Birth Advertisement on Australian Television

September 1, 2011 1:59 AM

Genea Advertisement An Australian IVF clinic is rebranding itself from Sydney IVF to Genea. It's ad campaign for the name change includes a vaginal delivery-a first for Australian commercial television. Although ironically, featuring New Zealand parents. Disclaimer: these are the folk that brought LittleTaff and ToddlerTaff in to the world.

It's not icky and is rather beautiful. And black and white...no gore.

posted by taff (40 comments total)

This is my first ever blue post, possums!! Fingers crossed you like it.
posted by taff at 2:02 AM on September 1, 2011

Damn. I thought it was virginal birth. Vaginal, I've seen.
posted by pracowity at 2:25 AM on September 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

I look forward to this ad's appearance on The Gruen Transfer.

My mother is a midwife, and she occasionally works at an IVF clinic. This lead to the shining moment during my teens when we were browsing in a newsagent and she poked me in the ribs, pointed at another customer and hissed "Hey Shelley, I knocked that woman up!"
posted by PercyByssheShelley at 2:25 AM on September 1, 2011 [8 favorites]

Thanks, IVF, for making overpopulation more science-y.
posted by Mooseli at 2:29 AM on September 1, 2011 [3 favorites]

Loved it. Though the camera should have zoomed into the back of the babies neck, where there would be a small label printed on the skin saying: "Make by Genea".
posted by greenhornet at 2:43 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wow! [Although someone would be strangled in I pod cords if I had to endure that woo woo music in the birth room] And yeah, I reckon that's one for the Gruen team.
posted by honey-barbara at 3:05 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

Woof. Childbirth. Dunno how mammals made it past the beta test.

When the singer hit the first note of the first Ah! I braced myself, waiting for it to turn into the blood-curdling scream the situation warranted.

I think Bill Cosby said it well. "Wanna know what childbirth is like? Well, grab ahold of your bottom lip. Now pull it up over your head."
posted by likeso at 3:12 AM on September 1, 2011

I just find the idea of filming a birth specifically for an advertisement seems so strange. I mean, is the look on her face genuine or is it 'acting'? The article said they had a script and that the woman had given birth three times before. Strange.
posted by delmoi at 3:13 AM on September 1, 2011

I thought the video made quite the impact. And, from reading some of the above comments, I'm glad my PC doesn't have speakers. :) No pesky music or talking to spoil an otherwise beautiful moment.
posted by jillithd at 3:13 AM on September 1, 2011

Woof. Childbirth. Dunno how mammals made it past the beta test.

It's more difficult for humans because of our large heads.
posted by delmoi at 3:13 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

The article said they had a script and that the woman had given birth three times before. Strange.

After blowing her lines the first three times, I bet she was relieved when the fourth proved to be the charm.
posted by three blind mice at 3:18 AM on September 1, 2011 [15 favorites]

Lovely, and good one Don McGlashan for the score.
posted by slightlybewildered at 3:19 AM on September 1, 2011

"Wanna know what childbirth is like? Well, grab ahold of your bottom lip. Now pull it up over your head." was originally said by by Carol Burnett. Bill Cosby referenced it later.

The ad was beautiful but didn't make a lot of sense to me. "Because they were the first..." what? Therefore they're the first to show this in an ad? Nicely meta, but not exactly a reason to trust them that you'll end up in that delivery room, especially if you need a fertility clinic because of frequent miscarriage. At least in the U.S., fertility clinics hand you off to an OB about halfway through the first trimester. They're not at the birth in any way. If it had showed an actual conception through to heartbeat, that would have been cooler. But I guess not as heart-stringy.
posted by Mchelly at 3:48 AM on September 1, 2011

[...] originally said by by Carol Burnett.

Huh! Very good to know - thanks, Mchelly. Yet another reason to love the woman.
posted by likeso at 3:57 AM on September 1, 2011

Why, yes, that's a hat shaped like a shoe on my head. Are you a terrorist?
posted by loquacious at 4:13 AM on September 1, 2011

good trip?
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:43 AM on September 1, 2011

Thanks, IVF, for making overpopulation more science-y.

Areas where overpopulation is rampant don't use IVF. In fact, they don't use anything science-y to control birth rates positively or negatively. It's all natural, except for the fact that we've selectively introduced medical interventions that reduce infant mortality and deaths due to childbirth.

If you really think more humans is a problem in and of itself, then kindly lead by example.
posted by unigolyn at 4:50 AM on September 1, 2011 [5 favorites]

It's ad campaign for the name change includes a vaginal delivery

Man, they are putting ads everywhere these days.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:59 AM on September 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

Dear Australia,

Just because you are Down Under doesn't mean we need to see Down Under.

Love,

inturnaround
posted by inturnaround at 5:07 AM on September 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

Areas where overpopulation is rampant don't use IVF. In fact, they don't use anything science-y to control birth rates positively or negatively. It's all natural, except for the fact that we've selectively introduced medical interventions that reduce infant mortality and deaths due to childbirth.

If you really think more humans is a problem in and of itself, then kindly lead by example.

I will, thanks.

(And just because we happen to be in the developed world, doesn't mean our babies don't have a negative impact - the opposite, actually; ours have the most and worst impact of all.)
posted by Mooseli at 5:37 AM on September 1, 2011 [4 favorites]

...Vaginal, I've seen.

Me too - I assume. Though I can't remember it.
posted by entropone at 5:53 AM on September 1, 2011

If you really think more humans is a problem in and of itself, then kindly lead by example.

Generally, I think people who are against having children should not have them and they should refrain from making judgements about those who do. Most couples I know who seek IVF are not trying to make it an even dozen, but rather are desperately trying to have one.

In developed countries sub-replacement fertility is any rate below approximately 2.1 children born per woman.

In other words, a woman in the developed world can have two kids via IVF and still contribute to a declining population.
posted by three blind mice at 6:00 AM on September 1, 2011 [7 favorites]

I videoed my wife's last birth, and the week later back at work I edited up the movie on my work cubical drone PC with no sound card. I loaded to vimeo and sent al friend and family the link.

It wasn't until I got home and showed my wife did I realise that I had forgotten the sound.

Behind the shots of my wife beaming and holding our baby, the doctor sewing up down below was giving commentary. "Oh yes, this is a big tear... you'll feel this is a few days... will experience bleeding..... puss and mucus" that sort of thing and asking my wife questions about her vagina. It's like documentary.
posted by the noob at 6:30 AM on September 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

The hell? I thought you Ozzies were still using storks.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:52 AM on September 1, 2011

sorry, that should be...
Its like documentary.
posted by the noob at 7:06 AM on September 1, 2011

Lucky it only showed a vaginal birth and not breastfeeding. That would send viewers troppo.
posted by Trivia Newton John at 7:10 AM on September 1, 2011

I think things like this are really unpleasant to watch. My partner has a friend who loves to send me "natural" birth videos because she does Not Approve of my plan to go to an evil, soul-killing hospital. It has pretty much the opposite of the effect that she intends. I spend the whole time like "please, for the love of god, give that woman some pain medication. Or a beer. Or SOMETHING. OH MY GOD."

My partner thinks they're cute because, you know, babies. So I will send this to him.
posted by the young rope-rider at 7:15 AM on September 1, 2011

I had no idea Australians gave birth to fully-formed live young.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:37 AM on September 1, 2011 [9 favorites]

sorry, that should be...
Its like documentary.

eponysterical
posted by emelenjr at 7:43 AM on September 1, 2011

*And just because we happen to be in the developed world, doesn't mean our babies don't have a negative impact - the opposite, actually; ours have the most and worst impact of all.*

While everyone should have the right to make reproductive choices according to their comfort level, up to choosing to remove themselves from the process, massive single generation die-offs, as unlikely as it would be for everyone to run out and do it, are not optimal either.
posted by Phalene at 8:36 AM on September 1, 2011

Yeah, babies are bad!
posted by KokuRyu at 8:39 AM on September 1, 2011

They are bad. You know who else was once a baby, right?
posted by dumbland at 8:59 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

The article said they had a script and that the woman had given birth three times before. Strange.

It does seem odd that she'd need a script for a fourth birth. I understand the dialogue is usually mostly improvised.
posted by longsleeves at 9:19 AM on September 1, 2011 [2 favorites]

unigolyn writes "Areas where overpopulation is rampant don't use IVF. In fact, they don't use anything science-y to control birth rates positively or negatively. It's all natural, except for the fact that we've selectively introduced medical interventions that reduce infant mortality and deaths due to childbirth."

Condoms are used even in "overpopulation is an immediate problem" areas. I realize the science is pretty low tech but it's still science-y.
posted by Mitheral at 9:44 AM on September 1, 2011

It may seem like a paradox, but lowering infant mortality actually reduces population growth. For one thing, parents don't feel they have to have more children in order to increase the odds that they will have children who will survive past the age of 7 (and help out on the farm). Second, lower infant mortality is also correlated with higher standards of living; you're more productive, you don't need more people to run the farm, children also become more expensive.

The solution to world population is to increase access to healthcare, help ensure populations are educated, and improve the status of women.
posted by KokuRyu at 10:21 AM on September 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

"Why, yes, that's a hat shaped like a shoe on my head."

Now do sharpie in pooper.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 11:29 AM on September 1, 2011

The young rope rope rider. This was in a birth centre which is normally attached to a hospital. So pretty much as soon as the woman wants drugs, or if she needed some assistance, she'd be wheeled through the doors (or the anaesthetist would appear by her bedside) and it would all be available to her.

I'm a hospital kind of a birther myself...heroin for pain relief and "wake me up when the hairdresser comes".
posted by taff at 3:10 PM on September 1, 2011

Oh, I'm sure she's fine, and so are all the natural home birth videos I watch, I'm just overly identifying with them on week five hundred of painful and completely unproductive contractions for which they will not give me heroin :)

Thanks for posting, by the way, we really got a kick out of this video.
posted by the young rope-rider at 4:51 PM on September 1, 2011

And I'll bet they show this thing on the telly right around dinnertime, bookended by ads for toilet cleaners.
posted by tumid dahlia at 6:28 PM on September 1, 2011

"I will, thanks."

Not having children isn't enough. Your carbon footprint is killing Mother Gaia as we speak. Please ensure your existence stops immediately.

Or else stop telling people who aren't western ivory tower luddites posting on Internet forums how worthless their lives are. You literally paid enough money to feed a starving person for a week just for the privilege to post on MeFi about how there's too many people (not counting your own selfish existence).

You are in the very strongest sense of the word a traitor to your species, and in fact the very essence of what it means to be a living creature. To live and to continue living is the only reason we exist.
posted by unigolyn at 6:43 AM on September 2, 2011