Kotex has just released a new line of tampons: how exciting! Not really, I know. What people (mostly women) are stoked on regarding this new line of tampons is the accompanying advertising that is refreshingly wry and clever. In the first commercial that was released for the line, a jaded young woman mocks traditional pad and tampon advertising: she drips sarcasm as she explains that she just loves dancing and hugging soft things while she’s on her period.
When I first watched, I chuckled. Who amongst us hasn’t re-enacted the rose-tints-my-menstruating-world ridiculousness of those ads? I laughed, but I also made “that face” (in which you can see the storm clouds brewing in my mind), meaning I thought something was off.
The thing is, what tampons ads have always done is sell freedom. You know how “road movies” are the great American tale of male freedom? Tampon commercials are women’s road movies. These commercials aren’t selling menstrual-blood-absorption-products; they are selling freedom! Freedom from menstruation! Periods, what?! Our product is so liberating that we can sell it to you without even mentioning menses in our ads! We focus on the cool, in-tune with your-yoga-doing-self stuff you will do while you’re freed by our product!
These new Kotex commercials are entertaining because they’re going meta on that pitch. Kotex is telling it like it is, calling out all the euphemistic, sunshine BS of Big Tampon. Sure, Kotex is part of Big Tampon and has been employing white-pants/serene stretching ads forever—but now they’re different! They’ve realized how savvy their audience is and they aren’t going to talk down to us anymore. They’re even going to mock their old format for our entertainment! They even made a tampon commercial that actually used the word ‘vagina’—but it was so badass, those stuffy networks rejected it!
Here’s the thing: they’re still ultimately selling the idea of freedom, not product—they’ve just switched up what they’re selling us freedom from.
In the past, ads have sold us freedom from the control our periods have over us. Now, we’re being freed from the serene and euphemistic discourse surrounding our periods. We’re free to be ourselves! We’re going to have neon colored tampon wrappers that reflect our individuality! And a product line that spells “You” as “U”! We’re badass and hardcore. We’re young, hip and bleeding! This isn’t your mother’s tampon!
BAM. That’s what their freedom is focused on: freedom from a stuffier generation and their way of dealing with unmentionable monthly events down there. Freedom to be our forward, young, individual selves… by buying the same old mass-produced (albeit differently packaged) product that disappears up your hoo-haa for no one to see.
So is this advertising approach a profound change in the way the media treats periods? No. It makes us feel like there’s been a watershed moment, but companies selling faux expressions of rebellious individuality is nothing new, let alone subversive.
HOWEVER. Yes, there is a however. U by Kotex’s website is a little bit of awesome.
Though it is heavily branded and obnoxious with its stereotypically “youth-appealing” design, and a lot of the site is an extension of the sarcastic freedom-selling of the commercial I described, some of it is progressive.
For instance, they have a “Mission” section. The mission? “Break the Cycle: Vagina isn’t a dirty word, so let’s take it back. Share your story on how you’re helping to change society’s view on all things vadge.”
Besides being irritated by the word vadge, I’m vaguely impressed. Vagina isn’t a dirty word, obviously, but that’s pretty a Vagina-Monologues-esque message for tampon pusher.
This “Break the Cycle” mission also includes a “Declaration of Real Talk” for visitors to sign. It reads: “Yeah, I have a period. And a vagina, not a va-jay-jay. It’s what makes me a woman. But society and the media aren’t being straight with me. It’s like there’s a code of secrecy and it makes me feel uncomfortable when talking about these topics…” It goes on to ask visitors to promise: “I will celebrate my body and my period as natural, normal and important/Respect my vagina, and know that “vagina” isn’t a dirty word/Challenge society to think differently about what it means to be a woman/Talk openly and without embarrassment about periods and vaginal care with my friends and family/Take good care of myself and encourage my girlfriends to do the same.”
Clearly, the fact that Khloe Kardashian is spotlighted as one of the women who has signed the declaration makes me gag and the whole ‘my vagina is what makes me a woman’ statement makes me roll my eyes, hard, but, I’m a wee bit stoked that a mainstream tampon website is obliquely addressing the way language functions as an agent of social control.
Ultimately, I’m always wary of social change ventures that move product (Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, I’m still watching you). I think that commercials for U by Kotex will end up being edgy enough to make sales, but not enough to actually change the discourse surrounding menstruation (and I’m irritated by the fact that women will, understandably, experience these commercials as liberating when they’re really the same old thing). And I think that only a small fraction of the people who view the pseudo-transgressive commercial will go on to visit the (potentially somewhat transformative despite its flaws) site. In the end, the commercials are what most people are going to see and if a tampon company want to truly contribute to “breaking the cycle”, they have to take their stand via that highly visible platform. Show me a tampon commercial that says “uterus blood” and I’ll show you my amused AND impressed-faced.
4 Comments
Food for thought: The folks who brought you the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is also the crowd that brought you the Axe Body Spray commercial where the women’s clothing burst of their sculpted bodies when the scented gent strolls by.
Nice try Kotex, but I’ll stick with the Diva cup.
EMILY! I didn’t know you were a Diva Cup user! Menstrual cups are always the answer. Want as much freedom from your period as is possible? Menstrual cup! Want to actually take the best care of your body possible? Menstrual cup! Want to really go against the majority with your menstruation-dealing products? Menstrual cup!
Also, this article (published by the group that I work for) really nails a couple of reasons I’m uncomfortable with the pairing of causes and product sales (this specifically addresses breast cancer): http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/opinion/article/980626
I love this!
I also love the commercial…. I’m sorry… I think it’s hilarious.
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