Lovima: Revolution

Lovima (desogestrel 75mcg), the female contraceptive pill manufactured by the leading medicines switch pharma company Maxwellia, is highlighting how this pill is now available without prescription for the first time in the UK, with a launch campaign featuring a play on the concept of 'liberation'. The campaign, devised by creative studio Ourselves, breaks on TV on 6 October. The 30-second spot opens with the word 'Revolution', with images highlighting the Women's Liberation Front, referencing when the contraceptive pill was first introduced in the UK sixty years ago in 1961.

The ad then focuses on how women have been patiently waiting, before continuing with: “Now there’s Lovima. This pill has been liberated,” explaining that to obtain the pill, there is now no need for a doctor’s appointment - all it takes is a consultation with your local pharmacist, in-store or online. The film ends with the image of a pill in a woman's hand and the line: ‘Lovima®: a contraceptive pill without prescription’. The campaign juxtaposes these two important ‘liberation’ moments in history, bringing things up to date by showing that oral contraception is now in the hands of women, giving them more control over their bodies and lives. The spot breaks on TV on 6 October, during the Louis Theroux-produced series Sex Actually with Alice Levine on Channel 4. Following the reclassification of the contraceptive pill by the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in July - a journey spearheaded by Maxwellia – women can now buy a contraceptive pill over the counter, for the first time, without a prescription, following a consultation with a pharmacist. This reclassification of the daily progestogen-only pill is one of the biggest revolutions in women’s health in the 60 years since the pill was first launched in the UK1, giving more women even greater choice about where and when they access contraception.