At first, this ad for o.b. tampons, which was conceived by an all-male, Zurich-based marketing team, seemed gratuitous, distasteful, and disgusting. But then I thought about why I had that reaction, and suddenly, the Swiss seemed refreshingly realistic. Check out some American tampon ads. They are full of cartoon women (can’t bleed), flowing white skirts (unstained), vacationing girlfriends (there are usually three of them, they are unaffected by cramps, and there is always one black woman, one blond, and one brunette/redhead). No actual mention of blood ever happens, and when the menstrual period is referred to, it is represented as a gift-box neatly wrapped and tied up with red paper and ribbon, or as a red dot, instead of what it actually is: an overt expelling of the uterine lining and endometrial blood from the woman’s body.
The Zurich-based ad team used a technique in this ad that is often used in ads that aim to sell products to men. It objectifies a sexual being, in this case a male vampire, and suggests oral sex (his fangs are tampons, in case that wasn't obvious to you). This ad offers a guy who’s willing to please, in fact, eager to go wherever necessary to quench his own thirst; as ad blogger Copyranter points out “blood is blood to the undead,” (you’d be hard pressed to find a living man willing to perform certain acts during that time of the month). But if I’m to object to the objectification of women in ad after ad featuring plump-lipped and hard-nippled lasses tonguing lollipops or drinking from garden hoses, then I suppose I should object to the objectification of a man, lest I be accused of sexism. But it is refreshing to have my own desires acknowledged in much the same way; women’s sexuality is usually illustrated as romantic desire as opposed to physical desire. In reality, there are very rare instances when the twain meet.
It’s also refreshing to have the fact acknowledged that actual blood is expelled from the body, along with other things, over the course of three to five days each month. It’s messy, uncomfortable, and inconvenient. The tagline for this photo doesn’t say something silly like, “live life,” (of course I will) or “have a happy period,” (no way in hell that’s happening). It says, simply, “very absorbent.” A good quality in a tampon and, I guess, in a sexy vampire. There’s another European tampon ad, this time a French one, that acknowledges the existence of blood as well as the importance of the product being sold.
A woman in a yellow biniki languishly treads shark-infested water, but the sharks seem uninterested in her. The logo for Tampax is printed in the lower right corner of the image. That is all. The ad points out a possible, actual benefit of tampons. They will save your life in the event of swarming sharks. Why? Because your blood won’t get into the water, and, as everyone knows, that’s how sharks know you’re there. Certainly a more clever way to shill over-priced torpedoes of cotton than to suggest I’ll still be able to do yoga this week.
