The Academy Awards has been fiercely criticised for refusing to run an advert which looks at the issues women face after giving birth.

Frida Mom, which sells products to alleviate postnatal problems, said their advert was deemed to be “too graphic” to be showcased by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) and the Oscars.

The advert shows a new mother waking up to a crying baby in the night who she calms down before struggling into the bathroom to change her mesh hospital underwear and large-sized pad for postnatal bleeding.

“Postpartum recovery doesn’t have to be this hard,” a slogan at the end of the advert then says, before showing Frida Mom products

The brand said: “It’s not ‘violent, political’ or sexual in nature. Our ad is not ‘religious or lewd’ and does not portray guns or ammunition.”

19 films that should never have won Oscars Show all 19 1 /19 19 films that should never have won Oscars 19 films that should never have won Oscars A Beautiful Mind (2001) A Beautiful Mind is one of the mustier Best Pictures winners of the century so far. While its win was a coup for DreamWorks – the film was the studio's third victor in a row– it was far from a deserving recipient, especially considering Ron Howard won Best Director over Robert Altman and David Lynch for Gosford Park and Mulholland Drive, respectively. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars Chariots of Fire (1981) While Chariots of Fire is precisely the type of film the Academy usually takes under its wing, the fact it won was a big surprise, considering everybody present had expected Reds to win the top prize. The Warren Beatty film would have been a far worthier winner, too. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars Cold Mountain (2003) Cold Mountain lucked out by being nominated in what was a particularly weak year for Best Supporting Actress. Renée Zellweger recovered from failing to win for Chicago the previous year and, in doing so, earnt the unremarkable drama its "Oscar-winning" tag. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars Crash (2004) Viewers of the Oscars have grown used to unexpected victories, but none was more ill-judged than when Paul Haggis' drama Crash beat Brokeback Mountain to Best Picture. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars Dances with Wolves (1990) It's quite soul-destroying to think that Dances with Wolves scooped a total of seven Oscars in the same year that Goodfellas was nominated. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars The Danish Girl (2015) Alicia Vikander's performance in The Danish Girl is by no means weak, but it was nothing on Rooney Mara's affecting turn in Todd Haynes' film Carol. Had Tom Hooper not won five years before for The King's Speech, it seems unlikely that the drama would have picked up any nominations. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars The English Patient (1996) Put simply, The English Patient isn't a very good film. Of the nine (nine!) Oscars it won, Juliette Binoche's trophy for Best Supporting Actress was perhaps the most surprising. The French star herself could barely contain her shock. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars Gladiator (2000) This will most likely be this list's most controversial placement, but let's be honest: Gladiator is not the fantastic film it's regularly hailed as. Ridley Scott's overlong historical drama boasts plenty of swords-and-sandal bravado, but not much else. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars Going My Way (1944) The musical Going My Way may have been the biggest cinematic hit of its year, but it certainly wasn't better that classic noir Double Indemnity, which it beat to win Best Picture. In fact, it's nowhere near director Leo McCarey's greatest film (he won six years previous for the Awful Truth and would be nominated again for The Bells of St Mary's two years later). Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars Grand Hotel (1932) There's a reason why Grand Hotel is the only film to ever win Best Picture without receiving a nomination in any other category. An entertaining film, sure, but nothing more. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 19 films that should never have won Oscars The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) It's ironic that a film with the word "greatest" in its title has gone down as one of the worst winners in Oscars history. A prime example of when the Academy voted for spectacle over quality. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars Green Book (2018) To those who don't care about awards ceremonies, Green Book is a crowdpleaser that boasts decent performances from Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. To everyone else, it's the damp squib that somehow came out of nowhere to snatch Best Picture from under Roma's nose. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars The Imitation Game (2014) The Imitation Game won Best Adapted Screenplay, which begs the question: what the hell was this distinctly average film doing having any nominations at all? Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars The Iron Lady (2011) Meryl Streep has won enough Oscars for the world to know she's evidently one of the finest actors who'll ever live. Her win for The Iron Lady, though, was one Oscar too many. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars Life is Beautiful (1998) The year of 1999 marked one of the most remarkable Oscar ceremonies in history for the sole reason that the majority of its winners were terrible choices. Right up there was Roberto Benigni, who beat Tom Hanks (Saving Private Ryan) and Edward Norton (American History X) to win Best Actor for, of all things, Life is Beautiful. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars The Pianist (2002) It might finally be accepted that disgraced film director Roman Polanski shouldn't be handed accolades, but back in 2003, this was still what the Oscars were doing. He won Best Director for The Pianist, an award the French-Polish filmmaker could have done without. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars A Place in the Sun A Place in the Sun is a fine little film, but fine little films shouldn't be winning Oscars – especially when they see off competition from more deserving opposition. In this case, director George Stevens beat John Huston (The African Queen), William Wyler (Detective Story) and Elia Kazan (A Streetcar Named Desire) to the Director prize. Paramount Pictures 19 films that should never have won Oscars Shakespeare in Love You have to hand it to Shakespeare in Love, it played the Oscars campaign trail perfectly, overtaking war favourites Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line to win the evening's biggest prize. This doesn't mean its success has gone down as anything more than evidence of poor judgement from the Academy. Rex Features 19 films that should never have won Oscars Slumdog Millionaire It's often good to hold your hands up and admit that a film is nowhere near as good as you recall. Sadly, Slumdog Millionaire is one of those. While its win no doubt put smiles on the faces of commuters reading the morning papers the next day, the shine has worn off its success in recent years. The rightful winner – The Dark Knight – wasn't even nominated for Best Picture. Rex Features

But it admitted knowing that “‘feminine hygiene & haemorrhoid relief’ are also banned subjects”.

Bosses added: “It’s just a new mum, home with her baby and her new body for the first time. Yet it was rejected. And we wonder why new mums feel unprepared.”

The firm said the ad was deemed to infringe the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ guidelines by being “too graphic with partial nudity and product demonstration’”.

The Independent has contacted the Oscars for comment.

Busy Philipps, an actor who starred in Dawson’s Creek and White Chicks, said in an Instagram post: “I DO believe so strongly that the more we can NORMALIZE A WOMAN’S BODILY EXPERIENCE IN MEDIA, the better off our culture and society will be.

“AND YES THAT MEANS ADS TOO. You probably don’t even flinch when an erectile dysfunction ad comes on but THIS AD IS REJECTED?! I think this is an incredible piece of advertising that accurately represents something millions of women know intimately.

“And I’m so f***ing sick of living in a society where the act of simply BEING A WOMAN is rejected by the gatekeepers of media. Well. Shame on them and NOT on us for simply being human women.”

Another critic tweeted: “This is the most honest, relief-inducing portrayal of those first few postpartum weeks. The painful shuffle, the pads the size of mattresses, the sodding pee bottle, all while the baby wails.”