Theory: What if Huggies were contributing to the diaper/nappy stigma

[LittleMissPink]

How? Well let's take a look, Huggies bring out Pullups and the slogan "I'm a Big Kid now!" in an attempt to shame kids out of nappies. Which is all great until you realize that some kids experience bed-wetting which is out of their control and can last anywhere between ages 3 - the rest of their life.

Meaning Huggies is essentially saying that if children have to wear diapers to bed for bed-wetting then they're not "a Big Kid" which is why instead of providing proper night time protection with tabs they opt for the "feels and works just like underwear" route aka Goodnites/Drynites and are definitely not a diaper - "does it say it on the pack?".
This all legitimizes the embarrassment and shame because they're concealing it like it's a hidden devil and if gotten out could ruin them. All the while the kids are pretending to be a "Big Kid" that doesn't need no diaper.

On top of all that is that these are inferior to a tabbed diaper unless you don't move around a lot and don't pee a lot in your sleep. So it's great for those that it works for but what about the kids it doesn't work for? How would they feel?

This leads to kids teasing other kids because they're "still a baby" if they wear diapers, that "Big Kid" mantra still embedded inside of them.

Huggies aren't removing the stigma of nappies/diapers they're actually aiding it by convincing kids and parents that bed-wetting and thus wearing a diaper is soooo embarrassing and "Big Kids" don't wear diapers and it should be avoided at all costs - Here buy these not-diaper pajama pants to deal with it so you don't feel embarrassed.

I won't say Huggies are totally responsible for the stigma around it all - because they're not but I don't think they're really helping either. The stigma has existed well before pullups and goodnites but instead of subverting the stigma they just played right into it further aiding the stigma of diaper wearing.

 

[Deleted member 9978]

They used that slogan because toddlers often want to be like older children. So it appeals to toddlers and their parents.

You're simply projecting from the looks of it.

 

[Trevor]

I suppose they could have tried to buck the trend but it's an idea that is so pervasive in our society that I doubt it would matter much. I suspect that stigma is a substantial part of what makes this interesting to me in the first place and it wasn't Huggies doing it, nor did it tweak me when I saw the commercials. As you note, it was here before them. Companies have made efforts here and there to de-stigmatize diapers for non-babies but I think it's going to take more than their combined efforts.

 

[Slomo]

Of course they aren't helping, though I highly doubt they are master minding the situation. Companies like, well all of them, play into typical stereotypes in order to further capitalize on it. That's just typical corporate greed, not some long planned conspiracy.

 

[LittleMissPink]

They used that slogan because toddlers often want to be like older children. So it appeals to toddlers and their parents.

You're simply projecting from the looks of it.

I'm not saying there is a giant conspiracy by the company to shame kids. This is NOT a conspiracy theory just a potential theory of indirect consequences of the company's actions.

The commercial itself "I'm a big kid now' doesn't help that stigma around diapers but ends up playing into it and subtly confirms it.
Even if it is because "they want to be like older kids" (which is the reason why they chose it yes) it still proves the point that it's subtly and indirectly pushing the idea that - "older kids don't wear nappies".
Hence they want to be like older to kids that don't wear them. Which is just false because older kids do wear nappies. So they should find another avenue.

 

[Janvier]

I could see how it can lead to stigma. But the stigma was there way before the commercial. It certainly doesn’t help matters, that’s for sure.

But it is the kid who sings it in the commercial and it is meant to be from the POV of a toddler. Toddlers, like most minors want to be older than they usually are.

 

[Jim100]

I wet myself both day and nite when I was about 3. That first nite that I was put back into diapers I through a tantrum and my mom told me if I didn't stop I would be spanked. I know why I was put back into diapers the next morning and accepted it. That nite we had people over and since it was a full house and my bed was going to be used by some older kids.

After diapering me she put me in the crib which was a complete shock. In the morning I knew that I needed diapers because of a very wet diaper. It is funny a child at that age would walk naked to a bedroom in front of everyone without being embarrassed but put a diaper meant that you were a baby. Our family never made fun of me for being in diapers; it did take a long time before I didn't need diapers. All this happened in the mid 50's so there weren't pul ups then; I don't think that a pull up would have worked since I was a heavy wetter.

As children we were taught that diapers were for babies but I think we should help children with potty training without the stigma about diapers.

 

[TheMat]

I always figured they wanted to encourage the use of more expensive pull-ups than cheaper diapers.

 

[Jim100]

I always figured they wanted to encourage the use of more expensive pull-ups than cheaper diapers.

Could be true.

 

[bambinod]

I always figured they wanted to encourage the use of more expensive pull-ups than cheaper diapers.

Or just keep thekids using their products longer.

In most cases, a child will outgrow the need for diapers, so that's a customer lost. Prolonging the customer's use of your product as far as possible is just good business.

But realistically, potty training your kid by changing and laundering lots of wet pants and underwear, vs buying pullups for a few months, I think for most parents would be a no-brainer decision. When it all comes down to it, diapers are about convenience for the parents more than anything else. There are numerous poor countries in the world that don't use diapers at all. Parents quickly learn "the signs and signals" that even a young baby gives when it's about to relieve itself, and more often than not they can get the baby to a latrine and hold them over it while they do their business. It's all about being able to afford convenience.

 

[Spidermanbatman]

Pull-ups are more expensive than diapers, and you get less per pack than even the largest size diapers, so they definitely want to push people into using those products. At the same time, companies like KC came out with products like Goodnites to keep parents buying their disposable pants even longer. They pitch the idea of convenience to the parents ("Don't wash wet sheets every day, when your child can just wear this!") while making them as a "pant" because society still has this idea that only 'babies' wear diapers. And the OP is right - disposable nighttime underwear aren't really effective for heavier wetters who tend to move around a lot in their sleep, as it results in leaking from the sides or top.

To an extent --and I find it ironic, if not a bit hypocritical -even people in the ABDL community perpetuate this same stigma, because how often do we see posts here or on other diaper message boards about seeing a child in public who appears to be past diaper wearing age but wearing diapers, and then comments by others who blame the parents or find fault without even knowing the circumstances? Kind of silly to make those types of statements, isn't it, when many of us are wearing them ourselves as adults?

 

[xtrabulk]

I totally get where you're coming from, and I think parts of your argument are valid. My Sponsor recently had prostate surgery and wears guards, which are totally obvious (massive bulge when wet). I wear Northshore Lites, for fun, and am WAY more discreet (totally unnoticeable I believe) than he is. If he wore a proper diaper, he could do so much more, like going on long fishing trips he used to enjoy. But, due to stigma, he uses the least amount of protection he can, which, ironically, is obvious to everyone.

 

[KCA]

In Australia, Pulls-ups are no longer available. Instead, we have "nappy pants" that have the same basic design as a pull-up but the absorbency of a regular nappy. The two did co-exist for a long time, but perhaps more parents prefer to use nappy .pants for toilet training, particularly given the extra absorbency compared to a pull-up.

I also agree with the others on this thread who point out that the nappy stigma pre-dates the introduction of pull-ups. It will also probably outlive the theoretical time when Kimberly-Clark goes out of business. When I was a young kid, "wears nappies" was the favourite epithet used for any person or group you wanted to insult.

Also, for a parent trying to toilet train kids, encouraging them to "be a big kid now" might be what it takes. You have to look at through the eyes of a 2 or 3 year old, not someone much older.

 

[LittleMissPink]

In Australia, Pulls-ups are no longer available. Instead, we have "nappy pants" that have the same basic design as a pull-up but the absorbency of a regular nappy. The two did co-exist for a long time, but perhaps more parents prefer to use nappy .pants for toilet training, particularly given the extra absorbency compared to a pull-up.

Wow. I live in Australia too and somehow didn't even notice that they stopped stocking them. The last time I bought them was around 2017 though.
Thanks for the update. How did I miss that...So after all this they stopped making them anyway haha.

 

[KCA]

Wow. I live in Australia too and somehow didn't even notice that they stopped stocking them. The last time I bought them was around 2017 though.
Thanks for the update. How did I miss that...So after all this they stopped making them anyway haha.

I'm pretty sure they still sell them in other countries, I guess here nappies won out.

 

[LittleMissPink]

Well I went to the pull ups site and found this:
"You can help by explaining to your child that diapers were made for babies, but Pull-Ups were made for toddlers who are learning to be Big Kids."

Potty Training Consistency with Toddlers | Pull-Ups®

Here’s how you can build consistency with your child as you start the potty training journey. See other important tips for easy and fun potty training.

www.pull-ups.com

Pretty much proves my point that Pull Ups are actually used and encouraged by the company to teach kids that "diapers were made for babies" what a joke. This makes me so mad.
No, don't tell your kids that because it's not true!

 

[AJFan2020]

They used that slogan because toddlers often want to be like older children. So it appeals to toddlers and their parents.

You're simply projecting from the looks of it.

They do if they are allowed to play with other kids their own age. I wasn’t until age five-and-a half and between that and a mild neurological condition that effects my right hemisphere I didn’t know what to do yet.

Those two factors (along with being born prematurely and being small for my age (shorter and lighter)) may have slowed down my training (and other aspects of my social development) by up to a year or two and I didn’t really want to be a big kid until around my sixth birthday when my father explained to me that I am not a baby anymore and some of how I was expected to speak and act from that point on.

On the plus side, it was around then that I learned how to use a hammer and some other hand tools to help my father with some projects around and just outside of the house. On the minus side, dealing with stress in a socially acceptable manner is still not my best area.

 

[AJFan2020]

I could see how it can lead to stigma. But the stigma was there way before the commercial. It certainly doesn’t help matters, that’s for sure.

But it is the kid who sings it in the commercial and it is meant to be from the POV of a toddler. Toddlers, like most minors want to be older than they usually are.

For example, the stigma was already there when I was five-and-a-half in the early 80s (before pull-ups were on the market) and my mother often improvised something similar to a pull-up for me when we went out on errands and when she sent me to pre-school by putting a Pamper (the grocery store in my area didn’t have any Huggies in stock at that time) inside my underwear without taping it in place. Since I was small for my age it would probably be a newborn to size two Pamper in today’s sizes.

 

[PupSpaz]

As a parent (which to be fair I'm not!) I can emphasize with the struggle and frustration to get your baby out of diapers and toilet train, and the established norm often involves inadvertantly stigmatizing diaper wearing with not being grown up. As a parent your probably too busy to fully contemplate the stigma your inadvertently perpetuating, especially if the parent doesn't have any direct experience with adult incontinence.

Marketing departments want to build a relationship or sense of understanding with the parent so the parent will buy their product, education isn't the goal, getting the parent to relate and purchase is.

 

[WillFord384]

Raising a child involves a great deal of manipulation which may include tactics like lying, rewarding, or shaming. Obviously it can go wrong, but generally it's a good thing. You're trying to civilize the children, to turn them into people that will have friends and be successful and not waste all of your time dealing with stuff they should have outgrown. For every behavior you want, I suppose you could wait a few years until the child figures out on their own how they should act, or is able to respond to a reasoned argument. But then you have children who are going to be isolated because nobody wants to be around them, and they're going to miss out on years of development.

For the vast majority of children, motivations such as being a big kid or getting rewards (stickers, candy, new clothes, a new bed) are enough to get them through toilet training without too much trauma. Sure, there are going to be a few children who have special challenges that make this process more lengthy and difficult, or simply impossible. Should all parents therefore give up the approach that works most of the time, just because there's a small chance it will turn out to be the wrong approach for their kid, or because there are children in other families for whom it would be the wrong approach?