Do you love, love, love this tampon ad from the US, or does it make you cringe?
There’s nothing quite like that time in adolescence when all your friends are getting their periods, and you’re not. And this company have captured it in an ad that’s got everyone talking…
HelloFlo is a US based company that solves the inconvenient run to the shops when you run out of tampons and pads. They offer a home delivery service of “one-of-a-kind care packages to help women and girls through transitional times in their life”
They also offer advertisements. Which say the scary words like “vagina” and “period”. The latest video has caused quite the conversation on social media.
First, we are introduced to a young girl, who feels left behind. She is the last to get her period. So she decides to “fake it” by applying “rubilicious red nail polish” to a pad.
Finally, she is part of the "Cherry Slush Club" and the "Blood Sisters". But when confronted by her mum, she has to keep up the lie. But mum doesn't believe her.
So she decides to do what every mum in the situation would do. Throw her daughter a "first moon party" because it's a "family tradition". "Do you make vagina cakes?" she says to the baker on the phone. Much to her daughter's horror her "grandparents, friends, even mum's co-workers" turn up to celebrate.
And the party isn't short of fun games. Pin the pad on the period:
Wacking a uterus period:
Clearly, the poor girl can't take it anymore and confesses to her mum that she isn't part of the "Blood Sisters". To which her mum hands her the HelloFlo package.
So, how did mum know her daughter was lying? "Periods don't have glitter on them."
Hilarious, or humiliating?
One commenter Elora Dannon said:
God...why must women be humiliated time and time again by a perfectly natural happening?
And another anonymous commenter said:
Oh come on, ladies. You're over-analyzing. These are commodity products and they need branding and differentiation to make you pick one over the other. There really is very little difference between Tampax and Playtex, for example, except for the packaging. And as someone who went to camp for nine summers in a row as a young girl/teen, getting packages in the mail--ESPECIALLY if they have candy in them--was thrilling and fun.
So what do you think? Does this ad make periods 'normal' or just more embarrassing than they already are for a tween?
Watch the full video here:
Want more? Try this:
The Mooncup – How green is your period?
Why girls who get their periods at a younger age are basically doomed.
