Margaret (Meg) Zavich joins Dr. Teresa Knight in studio at St. Louis Public Radio 90.7 KWMU. Co-host Christopher Springmann connected with KWMU via ISDN data lines and a Telos codec from the On The Path Productions studios in San Francisco, to achieve the broadcast-quality interview.
Self-parody is the sincerest form of flattery, as this video, viewed by a million+ YouTube’ers, asks the eternal question, “Why Are Tampon Ads SO Ridiculous?”
Quoted in ADLAND.tv, Merrie Harris, global business director at JWT, said that after being informed that it could not use the word vagina in advertising by three broadcast networks, it shot ["Reality Check"] with the actress instead saying “down there,” which was rejected by two of the three networks.
(Both Ms. Harris and representatives from the brand declined to specify the networks.)
“It’s very funny because the whole spot is about censorship,” Ms. Harris said. “The whole category has been very euphemistic, or paternalistic even, and we’re saying, enough with the euphemisms, and get over it. Tampon is not a dirty word, and neither is vagina.”
Ironically, the ad incorporates amusing but aesthetically and culturally dated archival Kotex TV ad footage, further evidence that “Kimberly-Clark’s Kotex brand is hoping to break down the stigmas and embarrassment surrounding feminine care products,” according to mediapost.com.