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Football games have long stood as a welcome place for beer commercials. Now Procter & Gamble hopes they will also become a great roost for discussions of an inevitable byproduct of liquid intake: bladder leaks.
The consumer-products
giant plans a substantial campaign for its Always Discreet incontinence pads for women that will air largely during NFL games this season. Professional football is “the number one most-watched sport among our target consumers,” says Melissa Suk, vice president of adult incontinence for North America at Procter & Gamble, during a recent interview. “We really created this campaign by following our consumer and where her passion lies. And it’s watching the NFL.”
Advertisers in the past viewed sports telecasts as places to tout shaving accessories, cars and snacks. They still do, but their view of the overall sports crowd is widening — particularly as the audiences watching sitcoms, dramas and reality programs are narrowing thanks to the rise of streaming-video hubs. Not only do live sports draw a big crowd of male consumers, but also one that teems with women and families. That has spurred a broadening of the types of marketers eager to support sports.
Last year, Procter used NFL games to reach parents with messages about Pampers, one of its biggest brands, and invited them to share photos of newborns on Instagram or TikTok for a chance to win a year’s supply of diapers.
In 2026, the company has tapped a trio of “NFL moms” — Elisha Jarrett, mother of Brady Jarrett, the defensive tackle from the Chicago Bears; Angela Burns, mother of linebacker Brian Burns from the New York Giants; and Katie DeJean, mother of defensive back Cooper DeJean from the Philadelphia Eagles, to share stories and reveal how using Always Discreet can help women keep focus on the game at hand, especially important moments. “I never miss a moment of any of my son’s games,” sways Elisha Jarrett in a new commercial.
The campaign “is the largest that we have done since the launch of this business, says Suk.
Always Discreet shares a name with P&G’s menstruation product,s but remains one of the younger brands in the company’s portfolio. In years past, says Suk, ads for the incontinence product would have shown up largely in traditional news and cable programming, and some will continue to do so. At the same time, she says, “I think we are evolving as our audience is evolving. Our consumer is a viewer of the NFL,” and the company is more eager to be “part of conversations she’s already having versus expecting her to seek us out.”
