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What messages do tampon commercials send to young girls?
Kotex’s recent ad campaign for their “U” line of sanitary pads and tampons intentionally flies in the face of the commercials we’re used to.
In one, a young woman comments on the marketing strategies behind normal tampon and pad commercials while walking around an all-white room in an all-white outfit.
“Hi,” she says, “I’m a believably attractive 18- to 24-year-old female. You can relate to me because I’m racially ambiguous, and I’m in this tampon commercial because market research shows girls like you love girls like me.”
Honesty in advertising? You don’t see that every day.
A second commercial uses parody to point out that other ads are unrealistically cheery.
“Um, how do I feel about my period?” another believably attractive 18- to 24-year-old female says. “We’re like this [crossing her fingers], I love it. I want to hold really soft things, like my cat. […] I like to twirl, maybe in slow motion, and I do it in my white Spandex. And usually, by the third day, I just want to dance.”
Whether or not they help Kotex sell their products, these kinds of ads do point out how girls get mixed messages from society regarding their menstrual periods.
On one side of the field, we have “The Curse,” complete with PMS, mood swings, insatiable chocolate cravings, cramps that keep you home from school and work, an inability to wear anything but black for fear of “leaking,” bloating that makes our pants not fit and a tendency to cry over nothing. The Curse turns happy, successful women into sexless monsters who crush others’ spirits while devouring Ben & Jerry’s and counting down the days until menopause.
On the other side, we have “The Gift,” the second-wave feminist perspective that periods are an essential part of the female experience. They are to be celebrated, not feared, because they are a sign of our sacred ability to bear children. Sure, you probably won’t want to wear your best panties, but you should never feel as though you’ve been cursed. Instead, you should feel blessed, because each and every release of an egg brings you closer to your feminine essence, in which there is no shame.
In the middle is “The Inconvenience,” the view that if you just ignore your period, it won’t bother you so much. Go ahead and swim, play tennis, ride a bike, play with your kids and hold your cat if you want to. But for God’s sake, don’t talk about it. No one else should know you’re on your period, because if you ignore it hard enough, it’s like it’s not even happening. And if it really bugs you, there’s a birth control shot that will make you only have to deal with it a few times a year.
With all of these mixed messages, what are young girls just entering puberty supposed to believe about their periods? I sometimes wonder what I’ll tell my daughter (if and when I eventually have one) when she nears that age.
I count myself among the lucky ones because my experience hasn’t been Curse-like for the most part, although I know several women who can be put out of commission by cramps alone. But calling it a Curse seems like an unfair exaggeration, as if there is no positive side to it whatsoever; you should dread its arrival and be glad when it’s over. How is that attitude supposed to make a girl feel good about herself as she and her body mature? Or, for that matter, about being a girl?
At the same time, it probably won’t make you feel like a glowing Earth Goddess, either. There’s nothing sexy or fun about bleeding, or about discreetly excusing yourself to tend to said bleeding. It sometimes strikes at the most inopportune time, like before a big event or when you’re on vacation, and it can definitely be inconvenient. At best, “The Gift” is a sarcastic euphemism - it’s a gift you didn’t ask for or want, and there’s no way to return it.
I believe honesty is the best policy. Yes, having your period can suck, but it’s not the end of the world. Your temper might flare a little faster, you might find yourself crying at the cheesiest things, and you probably won’t be feeling 100% emotionally or physically. But it is an essential part of being a woman, and its significance shouldn’t be ignored or devalued just because it’s not a “proper” thing to talk about. In the end, of all the things in the world to get stressed over, menstruation shouldn’t be one of them. Period.
What were you taught about your period? What message would you pass on to young girls?
Permalink | Comments (10) | Post your comment | Categories: health
Comments
By MC
June 12, 2010 10:29 PM | Link to this
Weeeeellll, let’s see, one day when I was a kid my mom was setting the table for dinner and I overheard her say that we were out of napkins so I went up to the bathroom and came into the kitchen with the hugh box of Kotex! My mom about choked! It wasn’t until many years later that I realized why!!! Needless to say, she didn’t say much about it. I think she believed that the sex education class we had in the 5th grade would cover all the bases! So, getting my first period was quite a shock. What would I pass onto young girls? Open communication, don’t be afraid to ask questions,and take good care of your body so it serves you well in the future.
By sunny2day
June 12, 2010 10:46 PM | Link to this
I agree with MC. It will happen and being open and honest about it is best. I know my mother never really talked about it with me. I learned more from tv & friends. What’s the big deal?
By deb
June 13, 2010 7:32 AM | Link to this
I can remember when I was in 5th grade, I started my period. I was horrified. I was a tomboy and it seemed like such a weakness. My mother told me she had something for me and she had this brown paper bag on the counter. I was kinda excited until I peeked inside and saw the blue kotex box. I turned bright red and ran from the room. She and I had never had any exchange about it up until that moment. I guess she thought that “secret” movie we watched when we were 10 and Brownies was supposed to arm me with all the information I needed. I took a completely different approach with my own daughter. We spent time discussing my own time of the month way back when she was about 7 or 8 and that some day she would get hers too. When that day came, she woke me up and took my by the hand and led me into the bathroom and showed me her panties. I grabbed her and hugged her in celebration and we got down to business on how to proceed without one bit of embarrassment on her part.
By Max
June 13, 2010 8:59 AM | Link to this
Not everything has a underlying, sinister message. This is a product serving a need. How it’s presented - I’m old enough to remember the debut of the first feminine hygeine commercial - has nothing to do with ‘honesty in advertising’ because, well, selling a product is the goal as opposed to some universal, eccumentical truth. The same could be said of the Victoria’s Secret ads. When the time arrives for young ladies, parents are the ones to demyth the process, not the ad media.
By Slightly Right
June 13, 2010 5:08 PM | Link to this
Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but advertisements for personal items on TV has become distasteful if not just plain disgusting. Nothing like turning on the TV, especially around meal time, and viewing commercials about femine hygine,male enhancement,colon cleansing,or birth control products.These commercials can sometimes cause young children to ask questions that they are to young to understand. Welcome to the new millennium?
By Concerned Grandma
June 13, 2010 8:23 PM | Link to this
I think most of these commercials are not needed. They don’t tell much and leave the kids wondering. Parents and Grandparents need to talk to the girls to let them know this is going to happen when they get to a certain age. We were very honest with my granddaughter and when the time came she handled it better than I thought she would. She knows she can ask anything she wants to about it and we will answer her honestly. I worry more about all of the Viagra and other brands commercials. It is harder to try to explain them to her than having a period. Come on let’s use some common sense when it comes to what we let these kids see and when. I was never told anything until I started my period. I was scared to death thinking I would bleed to death. My Mom never told me anything about life EVER!! That is why I explained stuff to my daughter and now to my granddaughter.
By Facts of Life
June 14, 2010 8:35 AM | Link to this
Kotex, jock itch, Viagra, Cialis, feminine itch control and Yaz. But no no no cannot talk about birth control. Dance around the issues.
By done with it
June 15, 2010 10:56 AM | Link to this
A cursed, inconveniencing gift!
By Iva Biggin
June 16, 2010 7:38 PM | Link to this
I’m so proud of my monthly visitor that I wear white pants all week. I’m tired of hearing about hyper diarrhea on TV too.
By Phillip A. Butt
June 16, 2010 7:39 PM | Link to this
why can’t we be kind to mother nature and recycle them when finished?