Or coochie, or bajingo, or vajayjay, or any other term for female genitalia. The big news in U.S. femcare this week is the launch of Kotex’s new “Break the Cycle” campaign, and the refusal of American television to air commercials that use the word vagina. As Amanda Hess put it, “you know, the place where the fucking tampon goes.” Meanwhile, Mooncup has launched new ads for their menstrual cups with a “Love Your Vagina” campaign in the UK. The campaign includes posters all over the place with different names women have for their vaginas – fru-fru, bajingo, coochie, lady garden and vajayjay – and the domain name LoveYourVagina.com.
According to this article in Marie-Claire,
Mooncup intend[s] to stimulate debate and encourage women to care about their vaginal health as much as they care for their hair, nails and make up. Kath Clements, Campaigns Manager for Mooncup, says: ‘We hope the ads will get women thinking, smiling and talking about their vaginas.’
No word yet on whether British media are permitting television ads.
But will SNL take notice? Will we see new skits riffing off the vaginal awareness/vaginal health themes?
I wonder, Laura! I suspect that [a] SNL writers aren’t really paying terribly close attention to the femcare market (for instance, one of the skits was set in 1987 or 1988, and was promoting OTC yeast infection treatment – those medications weren’t available without a prescription in the U.S. until 1990), and [b] if real femcare advertising becomes more honest and direct, those dudes might not find it so funny.