I get a lot bizarre e-press releases, but this subject line caught my attention: “Women want tampons with their touchdowns: New survey on women & Super Bowl advertising.” What the heck this could mean? There is no room in football for tampons. Just like there’s no crying in baseball. Happily, it turns out women aren’t really clamoring for tampons, or even tampon ads, during the big game. The survey, from a group calling itself The Marketing to Moms Coalition, shows that the fairer sex feel neglected by marketers who advertise in the Super Bowl, despite comprising 43 percent of the game’s audience among adults 18-49. If my math is right, that means 57 percent of the audience is male, which probably explains why marketers ignore you, ladies. It’s nothing personal. The survey also reports that 53 percent of the women who tune in are more interested in the commercials than the game. What sorts of marketers would they like to hear from? According to the survey, food companies and car companies would be nice. Maybe the “gridiron gals” aren’t paying such close attention to the ads after all—there’s rarely a shortage of such spots in the game. The ladies would also like to see more technology products advertised. Of course, that half-time sponsorship didn’t work out so well for AOL two years ago (Janet, exposed breast, remember?). Toys, household cleaning products and baby products are also on the wish-you’d-pitch-us list. No mention of tampons, however. 

—Posted by Steve McClellan