Yeah, I said it: “period!” “Menstruation!” Apparently you can’t say vagina in a feminine hygiene commercial. Nor can you say, “down there.”
I also think this is crazy:
“During an interview with Dr. Oz, he started off the show (Sirius radio) by saying he’s not allowed to talk frankly about menstruation on TV, networks won’t allow it.”
“But, it’s ok to run spots that subtly assure women they smell bad, that hawk a pill a day for menstrual suppression, that have Mother Nature chasing down women who are trying to avoid her at all costs because of the “present” she’s carrying. Advertisers can sell us whatever they want as long as they don’t come out and matter-of-factly say what they’re selling.”
~ Elissa Stein, co-author of FLOW: The Cultural Story of Menstruation
Don’t you get sick of having woman’s advertising portraying us the way that they do? Every time a “femcare” commercial comes on, I start moaning and pulling out my hair and bitching to my husband about it. I figure it’s my duty to let him know that I’m not like those awkwardly feminine women on TV.
Up until now, commercials for tampons have infuriated me.
So, I was surprisingly thrilled when I saw this commercial for the first time yesterday:
And I might have to check out that book too.
