A Question about Podcast Money (Patreon)

Tldr: do I take money from this company to sponsor Doing It or nah?

I’ve never done this before but I wanted to let you, my amazing Patrons/paying supports, in on a behind the scenes business decision I need to make but am struggling to.

I felt like asking your thoughts would be a positive thing for transparency on my part but also I genuinely care what you think.

As you may know we’re currently in production for the next season of Doing It and it’s going to be a 5 part series diving into different themes around sex and relationships interviewing various different people in each episode.

It’s an expensive production as we’ve brought on an audio producer to help make it all sound amazing plus of course there is mine and my team’s time. Of course this means Patreon support is so important but I’m also hoping to get some sponsors on board.

So we’ve had one amazing offer in terms of ££ - it’ll cover Anouszka (audio producer) and most of Mia and Moog’s time spent on the podcast. Win!

However, the parent company is big pharma…

The product is for a soothing cream gel for your vulva (external only) and is a non-medical/pharmaceutical product to help with irritated skin. The campaign is about normalising this for people and how daily things can cause it like tight underwear/clothes or fruity shower gels etc… and tips on how to “keep it cool”, including this product.

For clarity, this is a product I would use if I needed it and occasionally I do.

Things that are holding me back from taking this deal:

• The optics - sex positive podcast/educator taking money from big pharma? On the surface sounds bad even if the details are fine (for context I have worked with big pharma in the past and it was on a more educational campaign but was hella stressful behind the scenes)
• Stress! Potentially a lot more back and forth with sign off and approvals although I’ve been reassured it won’t be as bad as my previous experience because this isn’t a pharmaceutical product
• Hypervigilence/trauma response? - not to throw the T word around lightly but over the years I have had my fair share of “attacks”/“pile ons”/attempted “cancellations” online and this has fucked with my mental health in ways I probably don’t even understand yet. This worry about it being the wrong decision and people coming for me/being “disappointed” in me/telling me I’m absolutely the most awful worst person in the world, is the loudest thing in my head. I always feel like I have to be 10 steps ahead of what people’s reaction is going to be and that worry is clouding my judgement. Am I going mad? Am I overthinking this? Is this actually fine? I literally do not know anymore. (Hence why I’m asking you)

Pros of the deal:

• It’s in the sexual health space so alligns with me and the podcast there
• It’ll cover a huge amount of costs of the podcast
• It’s a product that some people may find genuinely useful
• The campaign is harmless and about normalising a very common experience that many people may feel embarrassed about.

What do you think? Please be honest, please be kind.

Thank you,

Hannah