Selling The Pad

Advertising and selling sanitary products have always been a tiptoe around societal expectations and limitations. In this blog, we look at the elements to advertisement of sanitary products in public media and discourse.  

In the 1970s when the first pad was advertised on television, brands were not allowed to use words like absorbency, cleanliness, comfort, insertion or application. It highlighted the incredibly pertinent, and deep-seated patriarchal values. Periods were advertised as the taboo they were, and endured the idea that it was something that women needed to hide, and be ashamed of. The ban on the advertising of sanitary products on television, and the subsequent restriction on the use of words reflected the oppressive nature of societal norms that invalidated and nullified natural embodied experiences of the female human body.

It was only in 1985, that the word period could be used in television advertising when branding and promoting sanitary products. This came as a much-needed breakthrough, because until then, most pad and tampon advertisements were a cocktail of confusing euphemisms, to describe the use and experience of periods and the product. It once again reflected the oppressive elements of advertising, and one that was run by a particular ‘boys club’, that would be instantly uncomfortable at the mention of periods. Advertising period products exhibited the gaping void for a voice in the industry that understands and validates the experiences of different people and bodies. It identified the complex identity of the advertising industry as one that championed the voice of the white male population and curated promotional material that endured ideals of femininities that were extremely submissive, patriarchal, and exclusive. Products that addressed the inherent experiences of women that did not complement the supposed masculine qualities, were immediately dismissed or altered to specific boundaries. 

Advertising in the eighties and nineties portrayed women as supportive characters to the plot of the male. The wife cooks in a non-stick pan to feed her husband or she washes her husband’s formal shirt with whitening liquid, for him to feel confident at work. The concerns of the women were always to do with the man, never to do with her. It was an ideal that she cared for, and carried out responsibilities complementing the role of the man. It reflects the gendering of responsibilities and work and stereotyped the lives of women. 

So, unsurprisingly when advertising sanitary products, a concept known specifically with the female body, and one that is stereotypically ‘dirty’ and ‘hidden’, the men in advertising were immediately dismissive of the idea or changed it in a way that did not make it uncomfortable for them. 

Until recently, in most advertisements for sanitary products, blood was shown in the colour blue. There would be a few drops of blue inky liquid that would fall on a neat, white pad, which would instantly disappear into the muslin-like top layer of the pad and a lock would emerge. It depicted the absorbency and ease of the process. Regardless of the competitive USPs, and features of the product itself, all brands of sanitary napkins and tampons were unified in their approach of using blue to depict blood because red would be too ‘gruesome’. They also describe their products, especially pads, as ‘virtually undetectable’, keeping in line with the general disposition that it is something to hide, and be private about. 

Now, as the advertising sphere is disrupted and diversified in voices, there is a greater representation of authentic experiences, rather than it just being a sombre, restricted depiction of a very human, and natural concept. From a demonstration of periods as something that one needed to be ashamed of, to them feeling confident and unhindered, some sanitary products have changed the way that society views menstruation 

Perhaps what brought about incredible change was when Kimmy Jones, a transgender model was made the face of Pink Parcel, a period product subscription service, in 2017. It broke down the exclusivity of the advertising campaigns, and promoted ‘People who menstruate’. It demonstrated a new era of period advertising, that broke away from deep-seated patriarchal values, and understanding promotional content from the ‘corporate, white male gaze’. 

However, advertisements have changed with the renaissance of the digital era. Particularly social media has championed individual voices, given a large platform to small businesses with creative, sensitive, and niche advertising, and a space for the society to be exposed to newer and progressive advertising. Today’s adverts are widely inclusive, and perceptive, and cater to not only promoting brands, but also informing audiences, and shaping public opinion.