Viral Marketing for the Confusion

[eredien]

So, Tampax is sponsoring this website. Main character: teenaged boy who wakes up one day with a vagina and gets his period. Yes, I know that reads like a crazy manga plot.

There's video diaries, and a twitter feed. It's...really, really strange and a bit unnerving.

Is it misogynistic? Anti-feminist? Trans-phobic? None of those things? All of them, by turns? Is it actually...useful? Is it going to talk about TSS, given that a tampon company is sponsoring it? I can't tell.

Is it a brilliant piece of viral market research so that young teens will talk on the message board about getting their first period? Probably.

Is it interesting that they're providing a forum for young teens to talk on the message board about getting their first period at all? Definitely.

[Edit: Update from "Zack's" twitter stream: applied to a couple all girl colleges on the East Coast. will they let a neutered fox into their henhouse?

I think the most amazing thing about that is the word "neutered," when the whole point of the ad campaign is that he's getting his period. Yeah, getting your period is totally disconnected from the onset of sexual maturity. It's really just an excuse to buy tampons in fifteen different sizes. And then, the lovely man=predator, women=prey implication. The assumptions behind that two-line tweet/ad are fascinating/disturbing/actually pretty disappointingly normal.

Oh yeah. When this starts really hitting the blogs in 24 hours it's going to get...interesting.]

Edit: "Zack" isn't the only sensitive man trying to sell you feminine products.

Comments

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

That is... fascinating. I'm looking forward to looking at it in more detail, because based on the first episode, I have no clue how they're slanting it. Interesting!

[ab3nd.livejournal.com]

The words "girl" and "henhouse" are also pretty bad.

Granted, they have some opportunity to have him change as a character, if this were some form of weird drama instead of an ad. I anticipate Internet controversy, followed by lulz when /b/ gets wind of it.

[wherdragon.livejournal.com]

I'm going to focus on the fact that a neutered fox (by which I assume 'he' means 'he's' trans?) would not be getting 'his' period, so the tweet is moot rather than any of the other grossnesses.

...On the other hand, if 'he' was just now neutered, while tampons will be quite absorbant, that's really only a temporary fix until you get yourself some real medical treatment. That needs stitches, cautery, a tetanus shot, and possibly supplement hormones for the rest of your life.

:D

[wherdragon.livejournal.com]

I meant to include that I put 'he' in quotes because if trans, I realize the proper pronoun would be 'she', but I'm not acutally sure if the ad is going for trans, or just kinda messed up laughs.

[eredien]

I think the ad is explicitly NOT going for trans; if they even thought of trans people at all (my money's on no), they want that to be the farthest thing from their market demographics' minds. As a fourteen year old girl, you're supposed to take away that this cute boy understands your girl problems better than any other boy, so buy tampons. You're not thinking that anymore if the word "transsexual" is uttered. It's ok for this boy not to have a penis anymore, as long as he keeps wanting one, and we all keep being told that he wants one. (Hi, Freud).

I think the "neutered" is referring to "magical dick removal=sexual impotency." Which totally ignores the fact that female genitalia are not sexually impotent merely by virtue of being female--and, more ironically, ignores the idea that the period is the body's way of signalling continued female reproductive potency. More proof that when it comes to misogyny, you don't need a dick to be one.

[wherdragon.livejournal.com]

Wow, it's sort of like they "forget" that while sperm is needed for reproduction, so is an egg AND A FUNCTIONAL UTERUS AND FEMALE BODY TO SUPPORT THE ZYGOTE. It's like the female contribution is more than the male! Panic!

Damn. I just realized that Tampax is the brand I prefer (I think... I can't remember...). I don't want to financially support this idiocy.

[eredien]

Well, here's the deal:

They are totally ignoring, in this ad, that the blood, secretions, etc. are coming from somewhere (ie, uterus).

They are totally ignoring, in this ad, that the period signals reproductive fertility in the female.

This "Zack," by virtue of getting his period, can be assumed to:
a.) have a uterus and female reproductive organs
b.) be reproductively fertile

Yet, he assumes that he is neutered, sterile, in his tweets.

If I were to write fanfic for this ad, which I am not, it would feature "Zack" getting pregnant, because he forgot that female genitalia in general are not sterile, and forgot or does not realize that his female genitalia are not sterile, and forgot that getting a period signifies more than buying tampons and making sure to not wear white.

[eredien]

I use lunapads. They are expensive, but fantastic. They got rid of the rash that I sometimes used to get when I was having my period.