New Stayfree Ads: Condescending & Awful
Hey ladies!
You know what I wish I had?! A date with an absolutely flawless man who talk to me in a completely condescending way about something they will NEVER GET – literally and figuratively: Periods!
Yes, you’re a man, Brad, Ryan and Trevor. And only men can be the experts on feminine hygiene, according to BBDO Toronto. Because us women? Well, according to these ads, we’re mute and dumb! We don’t get complicated things like menstrual products. It’s just too HARD to understand what products we use every month and you never do. My brain hurts! All I want to do is watch you take off your shirt and educate me on what it’s like to be a woman.
Let me show you what I mean:
Oh yes, and there’s two more ads like these that are JUST as creepy, ladies. Yaaaay.
First of all: What the fuck were the planners thinking on this one? Did Stayfree even GET planners for this account? Let’s be clear about this: This strategy? This direction? Completely missed their target. Like, you missed this SO hard that I’m surprised you even know what a man is and a woman is. If you’re not sure, they are COMPLETELY SEPARATE GENDERS. OK? OK!
BBDO Toronto, I ask you seriously: Did a man come up with this (creative) strategy? Because it reeks of man.
This infuriates me. It creeps me out. I’m bored! And I’m not even angry I’m bored at these terrible, terrible ads and that you wasted 7.5 minutes of my life because I’m too pissed off at everything else about these commercials!!
Look: I’m a woman. I try really fucking hard some times to be everything society tells me to be. I try to be cute. I try hard to keep my weight down (because apparently I love “thinness”). I try hard to be a great cook (and succeed! I make a mean pasta dish, seriously). I try to volunteer and then feel guilty about not giving enough time or money. I can’t even try to like chores.
To have a man come onto my TV screen, look me in the eye and outshines me in every way does not make me want to date him. I don’t even want to be near him. I certainly don’t want to listen to him tell me about how great Stayfree’s panty liners are in a “just smile and nod, darling” way.
Here’s a better idea for Stayfree: Get to know your target. OK? You’ll find out some interesting things! Like, we’re not fucking dumb! And we don’t look to men to tell us what to buy! I KNOW! DID NOT SEE THAT ONE COMING!
Just to clarify this for you, this is your target:
Now that we have our target, let’s write a strategy!
“Stayfree’s feminine products work just as hard as I do.”
Stayfree? Call me.
Thanks to my mom for passing this along to me. As you asked, here are my thoughts about it!
To take our conversation off of the twitters its interesting that you interpret those commercials in a condescending sort of light. I compare them to a less outrightly sexualized Axe commercial wherein the guy is objectified and by using this product it makes you smarter and able to attract this 'guy of your dreams”. But I guess that goes back to your point that it singles out another aspect of a women that is missing. By not using Stayfree you're essentially being told you're missing a part of yourself to be able to be fulfilled.
As I'm not equipped to judge this product do you think overall in marketing this product that it should be taken very seriously? Should sex and sex appeal be taken out of the equation for women only products?
Awesome post Emma! Not sparing any punches, I like!
dear lord that is CREEPY.
sigh, i can't unwatch that.
though, have you ever noticed that toiletries for men are always advertised via half naked women throwing themselves at the men using the products. whereas women's toiletries are always advertised using an onslaught of scientific facts.
so this is an exceptionally awkward slight change of pace. they are still using stats. but also naked men.
if a guy, as chiseled and topless as he may be, tried to learn me up about pads, i'd sucker punch him so hard.
SO HARD.
fail.
Hey Kev,
I think you're missing a couple of key points here.
1. This is condescending and I'm not sure how you don't see it. The way he talks to the camera? “Oh, you like moisture too!” like she's an invalid. The way the camera doesn't talk like she's a mute…. The way he feeds her and then wipes food off of her like she's a baby and unable to care for herself. All of it scream CONDESCENDING to me.
2. The Axe commercials? What? Are you kidding me? Those commercials say, “Use Axe and women will come in droves and throw themselves at you for easy sex!” I'm not sure how the man is objectified here. Women clearly are – they're just sex objects in those ads.
3. I can say plainly, this guys is NOT the guy of MY dreams. He's too unreal. He's too fake. He's the kind of guy, that if I were to meet him and he were to say these lines to me, I'd immediately think, “This guy is a hitman/spy/convict. He is going to kill me when I fall asleep.” He is not a real man. No man is like this. Of course, unless he's hiding something.
I'm really not sure I understand this line: “By not using Stayfree you're essentially being told you're missing a part of yourself to be able to be fulfilled.” Can you please clarify?
Should sex be taken out of feminine product ads? Hmmm… considering you can't have sex while using a tampon, and you generally feel anything BUT sexy while on your period: empathetically yes. There's really nothing sexy about losing ounces of blood from your lady bits…
I don't think topic needs to be taken seriously, no. You can definitely find humour in this, for sure. It's like laughing at yourself when you've just gotten period blood all over your friend's pants you borrowed – you have to be able to laugh at yourself or it just gets too upsetting. But I still maintain this is not a man's domain, nor should it be. Let the women handle this one, you know?
i wrote this, and then my browser crashed:
the difference between axe commercials and this one is that with the axe the guy uses the product THEN gets hot women. in this ad the hot man is TELLING us to use the product in a rather simplistic “oh you hate moisture too, well gosh golly gee, silly girl, use this!” it could only be worse if he patted my head and handed me a lolly pop.
and while having a period doesn't have to negate sexiness and sex (as taboo as it may seem), it's pretty much impossible to make a maxi pad sexy.
I can't speak for Emma, but I interpreted them as condescending because, frankly, I am 35 years old and I have been having a period once a month for over 20 years. I do not need a guy – ANY guy, no matter how rich and smart and talanted, no matter how chiseled his chest or deep his ass dimples – to tell me how maxi-pads work and what I should be looking for in a product NO MAN EVER USES. At this point in my life, I have pretty much got the whole pad/tampon thing figured out, I don't need to have it mansplained to me.
Holy shit, that Dodge commercial makes me even madder. What the FUCK was that. I will separate the recycling? I will take my socks off before bed? OH MY GOD MEN ARE SO OPPRESSED.
Anyway, the Stay Free one makes me less MAD, but you’re right that it’s definitely boring and extremely condescending. That actor should be ashamed that he made that commercial. It doesn’t even flow at all, and it makes no sense, and every moment is cringe worthy. But then again all sanitary product commercials are terrible. I’ve come to expect it.
Good post, Emma. And you're completely right – the entire tone of that ad campaign is condescending. Fearthainn said it best: I don't need a man to tell me how these things work. These ads aren't funny at all, if they're meant to be.
One thing I do wonder about though… I'm more curious about the girls, teens, and older women who actually do buy into this crap. The people who might actually think it's funny – because I'm sure they're out there. I don't really know if I'm curious about any one aspect of them, I just find it interesting that people like you and me find this kind of thing ridiculous and condescending, while other people might not see it like that.
And when I talk about “people” in that second paragraph, I really mean “women.”
Ok I guess I'm seeing what you're getting at Emma and I'm missing the point completely! And thats probably the same issue the folks at BBDO had. With a guy working on this ad there is no way of understanding the experience of having a period and for marketing that product it sounds like product experience should be the most important consideration.
This scares me. It doesn't make me want to buy the pad; it makes me want to change the channel.
Right. But that's the point of a planner – they're the ones who are supposed to understand the consumer so thoroughly that this kind of strategy wouldn't even make it past internal reviews. The account people are closest to the product and the company, the planners are closest to the target. That's why I wonder if BBDO even got planners on this account…
Thanks for the comment Fear :)
And I think my mom had the exact same reaction. She knows what she's doing, she knows what to look for, she doesn't need to be educated.
“Mansplained” best new word!
I do wonder! Maybe teen girls would? I really hope not. I might fear for our future then. Haha.
I'm not even sure who their target audience is, here. Even women in their 20s probably hit puberty at least 10 years ago, so they, too, have a wealth of period experience to draw on when picking out pads. And honestly, no matter your age your go-to for feminine hygiene questions is almost always going to be a) your mom, or b) your female friends. Guys do not even enter into the equation. These commercials really miss the mark.
Christ, it's like American Psycho with maxipads. I'll take a pass.
I could barely even finish watching that commercial, on account of how badly I wanted to hit “Brad” really hard in his smug little face. I don’t care whether he’s hot or not– I would’ve been out that door way before he ever got around to showing me the maxi pads he’d thoughtfully laid out on our dinner table– which, by the way, is an absolutely horrifying concept. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to eat the risotto from his cookbook when I’ve just watched him lovingly caress a pantyliner he’s probably imagining some woman wearing– a pantyliner which, may I remind you, IS ON THE TABLE HE INTENDS TO SERVE FOOD ON. I know it’s not used and all, but still. That is not, like, an acceptable centerpiece.
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