Blog of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research

Hate ‘moisture’? You’ll love these.

September 5th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Guest Post by Chella Quint, Adventures in Menstruating

A date with Ryan

Ryan HATES moisture.

So Johnson & Johnson’s Canadian division’s just launched a new Stayfree campaign that I found out about when a Toronto reporter contacted me for an article she was writing. The campain is a series of viral youtube videos that simulate a date with one of three archetypal ‘Mr. Rights’, segue into a product testing situation, and conclude with an offer of a coupon for a free pack of pads.

Now, you can’t argue with free stuff, and the viral nature of the campaign is a good hook to try and get women who have brand loyalty but who might be persuaded to swap, but I think it’s the pads market going for tampon users. A virtual date with attractive thirty-something guys with careers, skills and hobbies? That’s the top half of the 18-34 demographic and I’m pretty sure I remember reading we’re mostly tampon users, though a lot of people have swapped to reusable menstrual cups, so I think on that front these ads aren’t going to work. They’ve already got a couple of things working against them, and only the free stuff in their favour.

Dating the men of Stayfree

August 31st, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Via Tracy Clark-Flory at Broadsheet, I learned of this new internet campaign from Stayfree.


At last, my girlish fantasies realized! I have always dreamed of a man who would have dinner almost ready when I got home, and then mansplain the intricacies of feminine hygiene products while the risotto simmered.

Except I grew up in the 1970s, so my fantasy man shaved his face, not his chest, before our date.

[See also A date with Ryan and A date with Trevor.]

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Marketing Menopause: Economic Forecast

August 30th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Longtime readers may recall that late last year, the New York Times published an essay about how hard Big Pharma has worked to market menopause as an estrogen deficiency disease. Despite that exposé and others of the well-documented risks and limited benefits of hormone therapy, plus thousands of lawsuits pending over the role of HT in breast cancer,  there’s apparently still quite a large potential market for pharmaceutical treatments for menopause (and other women’s health concerns).

To find out exactly how to mine that market, you can purchase the research report titled Women’s Health Therapeutics Market to 2016 – High Unmet Need will Drive the Uptake of Novel Drugs in Menopause and Osteoporosis from GBI Research. The report promises the following:

  • Analysis of the women’s health market in the leading geographies of the world, which include the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Japan.
  • Market characterization of the women’s health market, including market size, annual cost of therapy, sales volume and treatment usage patterns.
  • Key drivers and barriers that have a significant impact on the market.

This will better allow you to “align your product portfolio to the markets with high growth potential” and “develop market-entry and market expansion strategies by identifying the leading therapeutic segments and geographic markets poised for strong growth”. Not to mention the ability to “reinforce R&D pipelines by identifying new target mechanisms which can produce first-in-class molecules with more efficiency and better safety”.

It all looks very useful. Too bad I don’t have an extra $3500 in my back pocket.


Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

How to Ask for a Raise

August 26th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling


Step 1: Wash your vulva.


Ad for Summer's Eve from Woman's Day magazine


Yep, you’re a lady, so step 1 in asking your boss for a raise is washing your ladyparts with special ladysoap. It’s not until step 8 that we get around to “focus on things you’ve done for the company’s bottom line”.

Excerpt from Summer's Eve ad

(Actual advertisement from actual ladymag.)


ETA 08/27/2010: Via the always-awesome Bitch magazine, we’ve learned that Summer’s Eve brand manager has apologized for this ad, and is working to remove it from circulation:

Hi I am Angela Bryant, Summer’s Eve Brand Manager. I would like to first of all apologize if this ad in anyway has offended anyone. We are taking immediate next steps to remove the ad from circulation. We want you to know that Fleet Laboratories and the Summer’s Eve brand have the utmost respect for women. While we understand how some may come to an alternative conclusion regarding our recent ad, that was never our intention. Thank you.

[via Trixie Films]

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

New “Brilliant” tampons

August 20th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Ladies, are your tampons doing enough? Apparently absorbing menstrual fluid without leaking is no longer sufficient: new, Brilliant pH tampons “are clinically shown to reduce the usual feminine pH increase that occurs during your period.”

But let Dr. Streicher explain in this commercial for Brilliant pH tampons.

Screen cap of Dr. Lauren Streicher ad

Video should open in new window.

Of course, Brilliant also includes a “comfortable, soft plastic applicator” with “smooth rounded tip” and raised ridge for “easy grip”.

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

But I Thought Lightning Never Strikes Twice

August 16th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

June 2010 magazine ad for Always maxi pads Procter & Gamble femcare ads are such an easy target. It’s shooting fish in a barrel.

Periods = lightning? Really? And the classic deictic euphemism, “it”, well, that just makes me tired.

At least there’s no blue liquid.


Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Is Mother Nature Winning?

June 8th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Is it just me, or is Tampax’s “Outsmart Mother Nature” campaign wearing a little thin?


These two ads, from the June, 2010, edition of a ladymag, seem lackluster. Visually, they’re just not easy to read.

Serena delivers smackdown to Mother Nature

Serena burns a hole into Mother Nature’s monthly gift? She damages menstruation? How are we to interpret this image?


Cut "Mother Nature" down to size

This one is also a little strange. Cut Mother Nature down to size? Doesn’t this imply reducing one’s period, which is more consistent with the advertising slogans of cycle-stopping contraceptives (e.g., Re-punctuate your life with Seasonique)?

When did the wheels fall off this one, Tampax?


Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Having a Vagina Makes You Brave

June 3rd, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Ad for Summer's Eve moist towelettes, from People magazineBut only when you’re clean and fresh “down there”. Apparently women’s natural, in-born courage is best nurtured with scented moist towelettes.

I can’t decide what’s more offensive – the content of this ad, or the fact that someone got paid to write it.


[via Copyranter]

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Today in International Advertising

May 24th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Ad for Lifestyle femcare pads.This ad for Lifestyle stretch fit menstrual pads is actually a sticker placed over the drain in sinks of public restrooms. There are no flowers, no gauzy white dresses or white spandex pants, and it demonstrates the key features of the product, such as adaptable fit of the pad and absorbency, and there’s no blue fluid anywhere in sight.

What do you think, readers? Does it make you want to buy Lifestyle brand pads?


[via Copyranter, who tells us that this ad was produced by Johannesburg ad agency TLC Marketing]

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Introducing . . . Max le Tampax

May 17th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Apparently Max le Tampax is all stressed out about heading off to the Tampon Academy, where he’ll learn all about freshness and vaginal awareness and how to be empowerful to women.


Something like that, anyway. I don’t speak French, so I’d welcome a translation of this ad for a new Tampax product introduced in France.

[via The Frisky]

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Truth in Advertising . . .

May 14th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

…might look something like this parody by Jena Friedman:

[via Salon.com's Broadsheet]

Post to Twitter Post to Plurk Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Delicious Post to Digg Post to Facebook Post to MySpace Post to Reddit Post to StumbleUpon

Colored Tampons: For Whites Only?

May 5th, 2010 by Elizabeth Kissling

Guest Post by Nicole Luna, Marymount Manhattan College

"Try Something BOLD"Elizabeth Kissling’s March 16 post on the launch of the U by Kotex campaign and the comments that followed touched on the implications of the “new” Kotex products and their accompanying empowerment crusade. Comments ranged from how the new tampon applicators resemble glow sticks to how, with the new “menstruation optional” pills and implants, tampon and pad manufacturers are grasping any marketing ploy to keep girls menstruating and buying their products. Indeed, “empowering” women about their menstrual cycle and encouraging women to “celebrate their bodies” is a smart marketing move by Kotex in the face of the menstrual suppression option. The following comment from Giovanna Chesler’s on Kissling’s March 16 post sums up my own opinion about the “radical new product”.:

“Might I add that when I heard that Kotex was bringing a new, radical product to market, I assumed it would be a menstrual cup. What’s new about painting a tampon applicator? Still plastic. Still disposable. Shows how naive I am. Kotex selling menstrual cups… that would be the day!”

Let us not forget, these products still have the same pesticide-infused cotton and the same one-time-use, land fill-bound plastic applicators and wrappers.

Readers should note that statements published in re: Cycling are those of individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Society as a whole.