The modern world has given us many confounding things. Here’s another new addition for that extensive list: the phrase “adult diaper influencer.”
In this new field of human enterprise, Pree is the world’s first. “Incontinent or not, let’s embrace adult diapers together!” she declares in a recent YouTube video, as footage of the pink-haired 27-year-old in an array of crop-tops and diapers fills the screen.
She has popped up in videos for the leading ‘indie’ diaper brands in the US, whose products come in tie-dye, llama print, extra-fluffy, and super-discreet. Her flat stomach and pierced belly button peek over the top of NorthShore’s MegaMax—the Tesla of adult diapers—and her YouTube page is full of diaper reviews and diary-style “try-on” videos.
“Where is the person that has incontinence that’s talking about it?”
At the age of 19, Pree was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which is what causes her bladder control issues. She never aspired to be an adult diaper advocate, but after turning to the internet for support with her MS, she started her “Bumble Pree” YouTube channel in 2018 and has slowly grown into the role.
Pree’s first YouTube videos were incredibly honest, but focused on her pain, or her diet, or the problems she was having moving her body. What she didn’t talk about was her adult diapers—and she noticed that nobody else with MS seemed to be talking about them either, despite incontinence being a common symptom of the condition.
“I was just like, ‘Where is the person that has incontinence that’s talking about it?’ And then I realized: I have to be that person,” she explains. At first, she was worried about how people would react, and then a funny thing happened: “I noticed my numbers grew.”
Pree is one of millions of young adults living with incontinence. Many wear diapers, but Pree is one of the few young people publicly sharing their experience with bladder control issues. The $15.2 billion adult diaper industry is doing what it can to change this, starting by tackling the perception that their products are only for the elderly.
One company, InControl, posts videos of attractive young women in crop-tops and diapers dancing to Chappell Roan. Another called NorthShore has an Instagram that is full of sexy people having a great time at concerts. Their competitor, Depend, partnered with water brand Liquid Death to design a goth-style diaper for people to wear in mosh pits. “The idea was rooted in a cultural phenomenon that we’ve recently seen with concertgoers—especially Swifties choosing to wear diapers so they didn’t have to miss any part of the concert,” said Erin Przybylo, Depend’s Senior Brand Manager.
While these brands cater to those experiencing incontinence, there’s another audience with their own distinct interest in adult-sized diapers: the Adult Baby Diaper Lover (ABDL) community. It’s this group—who fetishize diapers or wear them for emotional comfort—who boosted Pree’s YouTube views when she began opening up about wearing them.
Understandably, Pree had mixed feelings on this at first. “I didn’t want people to think that I had a fetish for diapers,” she said. But once she got to know some ABDL’ers, her attitude changed. “A lot of people who are ABDL also have incontinence,” she says.
After discovering her favorite model, Pree reached out to the company, who responded by signing her to a six-month contract to create social media videos.
“She’s just so open and honest about the issues that she’s dealt with, from a psychological and stigma standpoint,” says NorthShore Care Supply’s Adam Greenberg. Stigma is the reason Greenberg founded NorthShore in 2002, after his father was diagnosed with cancer and became incontinent. His dad was embarrassed to buy diapers at the store. “He was even more bothered by the incontinence aspect than the cancer aspect,” says Greenberg.
Greenberg’s goal is to normalize the term “adult diapers,” which are now usually referred to as “pull ups” or “briefs.” “Not using the phrase ‘adult diapers’ reinforces our stigma,” he explains, which is exactly why the company has sponsored radio ads that run during Chicago Cubs games. Whenever there’s a wild pitch, the announcer says, “That control problem event is sponsored by NorthShore adult diapers.”
At first, Greenberg sold diapers in plain white colors, but after researching diaper stigma he began producing versions in pink, purple, and blue. He sent free samples to customers, and one said she started crying when she saw them. “I felt like you were actually marketing to me as a normal person, not as a medical patient,” Greenberg recalls her saying.
The colors and high quality diapers also attracted members of the ABDL community, who tend to be highly communicative about what they want. “They make charts of all the features and absorbencies, and test them,” says Greenberg, adding that the company recently hired an ABDL’er to create diaper superhero stickers. All this is an attempt to draw diapers out of the “aisle of death” in big box stores, as Greenberg calls the aisle with walkers and diapers.
Source : https://www.vice.com/en/article/adult-diaper-influencer-bumble-pree/
