Last Friday, our own Bob Marshall wrote up an item about Ogilvy’s new ad for Kotex and suffice to say, he received some backlash including comments such as “the piece Bob wrote is fucking stupid” to “The idea of ‘periods’ doesn’t make me ill. Your writing does.” Well, readers such as “jackieiam5” weren’t alone in their opinions of Marshall’s piece, which also provoked quite the response from a friend of a friend named “Kathryn.” It’s brief and to-the-point, so without any further ado, we give the floor to her:
“It’s Monday, and that means it’s time to talk about the incredibly offensive
post that ran on Friday AKA how incredibly gross and vomit-inducing
women’s bodies are. Don’t worry, if you puke now thinking about periods,
it’ll feel okay — you already threw up twice this weekend from binge
drinking, plus once on Friday when you had to contemplate the fact that
women bleed from their vaginas every month. Sorry you find one half of
the human race so repugnant. Would you like to throw a “smells like
fish” joke in too?AdvertisementFor the record, yes, there are generic tampon brands. You also missed o.b.,
whom you probably blocked from your consciousness since they’re
applicator-free and that means touching a (POSSIBLY BLOODY) vagina in a
non-sexual way (EWW).Ironically, enough, this campaign is about combating the attitudes on display in
Friday’s post – Mr. Marshall even notes that Kotex’s campaign fights the
idea that “a successful period is one that doesn’t seem to even happen.” For nearly
100 years, menstrual product marketing has been about sanitizing women’s
bodies, and finally a mainstream marketer has stepped up to be an
advocate against period shaming. While having your period can sometimes
be uncomfortable and yes, messy, it’s part of being a woman. What it’s
NOT is dirty, shameful, or something that we should avoid talking about.
Give props to Kotex for keeping an open dialogue about this, and also
for showing women in advertising as something other than sex objects or
mommies.Happy Valentine’s Day. Bleed red.”