In my last "ad-verse" post, I wrote, "If there's any commonality to bad commercials, it might be this: they aim for humor, but imply violence." I should have replaced "commercials" with the broader category of "advertisements," because, according to this NY Times article on the marketing of tampons, this print ad — included in a previous ad-verse rant — was only meant to be funny.
"Young women have a different attitude about this," said Karen Houppert, author of "The Curse: Confronting the Last Taboo: Menstruation" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux; 1999). Girls - 11 years old and up - are more comfortable with their bodies and the topic of their periods, she added, and are "less inclined to sort of accept those mores," associated with a female's cycle including secrecy, shame and embarrassment.Posted by nchicha at May 12, 2004 04:21 AMRecognizing the shift, the major players in this intensely competitive category have begun tweaking their marketing approaches. Procter & Gamble, for instance, recently introduced another humorous installment of ads, created in Chicago by the Leo Burnett Company, part of the Publicis Groupe, building on the success of a commercial for its Tampax Pearl brand. In that ad, a couple are on a date in a rowboat when the boat springs a leak. The man is at a loss for what to do when the woman pulls out a Tampax Pearl tampon and plugs the hole.
"It's definitely something that the audience relates to and I think because the topic has been a topic that is a little bit private or taboo or sensitive, when you poke a little fun at something it makes it easy to break through and to talk about it," said Mary Aikenhead, the brand manager for Tampax at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati.
Menstruation is the last taboo? What about female orgasm? Masturbation? The existence of condoms and, of course, the public embrace of Viagra (with that football-fucking-tire swing commercial) implies (and celebrates) the male orgasm; what do chicks get? Some commercial with old women talking about losing "intimacy," whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Luna Bars wouldn't advertise in Bust Magazine because they didn't want to share space with dildos! Female masturbation is so taboo that the Tampax people can't even remember that it, in fact, is the last taboo!
Blaargghhh.
May is Masturbation Month. Spread (your legs) the word!
Regardless of which taboo is "last" (I imagine that as soon as we get rid of them all, we'll have to come up with new ones), I don't know what to say about the tampon-as-boat-mending-tool advertisement.
Like toilet paper ads generally, it emphasizes the absorbency without actually noting what it's supposed to absorb. That points to being too embarrassed to say "Soaks up blood!"
On the other hand, tampons really ARE quite useful outside of their "intended" uses (nosebleeds, for one, and you can also make oil-lamp wicks out of them in an emergency!) and recognizing that utility in a humorous manner, and letting women say "I carry these around all the time for a variety of uses" is a step toward acceptance of them and not having shame about them. If you can carry it out in the open, even for use as an all purpose absorbent plug (tampon means "plug" or "cork" in French, remember), it implies that you're not exactly embarrassed or ashamed about them or their associated, intended, use.
Anyway, the advertisement with the boat may not be as funny as it tries to be, but it doesn't imply violence in my opinion... it portrays women being resourceful and not ashamed of their bodies. That's a positive step, in my opinion. And as the brand manager points out, the humor in it is what makes it so fun.
Nobody advertises The Keeper at all though. I'd like to see ads for *that*.
Posted by: verbal on May 14, 2004 12:39 PMOh, I didn't mean to imply the boat ad was violent. The shark ad, on the other hand: I don't think anyone can argue with the violence it implies.
Posted by: Nathalie Chicha on May 14, 2004 09:48 PM