This girl can advert. Tampon string

[Looneytune253]

Why does this advert show a close up of a woman's bottom getting ready with a tampon string hanging out? I don't get it, is it supposed to be empowering?

That could be part 2 of the advert maybe?

😂😂😂

Hannah’s period pains have been incredibly debilitating ever since she first started getting them. They leave her in intense agony every month, and for a long time, fitness was the last thing on her mind when she was suffering.

That’s about the woman in the ad with the string. It may also be her curled up in pain earlier in the ad.

I am for anything that normalises periods. I have endometriosis like one in ten women. Average diagnosis is nine years, because we do not talk about periods, because we are not open about them, because we think it’s normal to be in pain and because some think that their periods are fine so what’s everyone else whining about.

If this gets people talking about periods, then bloody fantastic.

I like it. There are lots of 'obstacles' in that ad - weight, age, disability, childbearing, socioeconomic status - periods are another 'obstacle'. I mean, how else could they refer to it? Show someone inserting a menstrual cup before going running?

I think it's great that it normalise periods.

But - I didn't like it because it promotes disposable sanitary products. We should all be using reusable products.

But - I didn't like it because it promotes disposable sanitary products. We should all be using reusable products.

We can’t all use reusable products, not without considerable pain or problems. If we had an open dialogue about periods this wouldn’t be news to anyone.

its a big step forward on previous ads in the campaign. I just wish that it dealt with one of the things that stops women exercising freely — male comments, harassment, jeering, assault.

I’m a confident person and was a committed, thirtysomething urban runner, but it wore me down over time, and a particularly low point involved a McDonald’s milkshake thrown at me from a car-full of twenty something men, who thought it was absolutely hilarious to see me keep going as it dropped down my hair and onto my face.

It is like the old adverts when the girl could scuba dive or go roller skating because she used Tampax. I used them for years but never managed to do either, should have done them under the trades description act.

I don't like it at all. Not good, patronising and insulting.

This with fucking bells on

I always took “This girl can” to be a direct challenge to the whole “you run/throw/fight like a girl” or “you can’t do that, you’re a girl“ thing; so using the same terminology and turning it on it’s head.

I resonated with the tampon string as when I was a young teen I was on an adventure sports trip and my period started unexpectedly. There was nothing in the on site shop apart from tampons, and I’d never used them before. I utterly failed at getting them in correctly, so I did actually end up with tampon string dangling down and I was so self conscious about it, constantly trying to subtly poke it back into place... but then again I had the most amazing time and still joined in with all the fun stuff; and I was quite proud of myself for managing (albeit craply) a week in a foreign country with an unexpected period coming on at an age where I really hadn’t had that many to be used to dealing with things.

Yes they could have used another way to show she was on her period but really in an ad you don’t have much time at all to set the scene. And maybe the fact that so many people are outraged over a tampon string shows that we maybe should show them on screen more often...

I love the this girl can ads but I don't get why the need for the tampon string.

It initially shows her on the bed with a hot water bottle on her stomach, so we already get the message she's on her period and in pain. But as PPs have said the message could've been reiterated by showing her grabbing a tampon.

To me they've literally done it for shock factor and to get people talking about the ad - so I guess it worked??!!

Plus it's not true to life, no one wears their tampon string hanging out of their knickers as it would be so bloody uncomfortable!!!

I think that's what irks me more, that the idea was clearly thought up by someone who has never used a tampon in their life.

I think it's grim. I am in no way a prude but this really seems a step too far. I had nothing against the previous ads with the slow-mo shaking arses, and everything laid bare, I thought it was great to show women of all body types doing sport rather than your boring Fabletics types. But I don't need to see tampon strings. I totally get the normalising periods thing (none of us bleed blue, for starters) but it's kind of irrelevant in these ads imho. Also, try as I might, I can't go swimming on the heaviest days of my period even with a mooncup because it leaks.

I also find the whole ad really aggressive with the "you're not listening" soundtrack. The previous ads were actually quite inspiring but this one makes me want to switch over as soon as it starts. It certainly doesn't make me want to get out there and do some exercise like the previous ads did.

I hate it. Purely because it reminds me of the fact that I have the worst bloody period in the world. Just no.

It's a string. Just a string. I can't believe there are actual women in this thread who are offended by a string.

"I'm not a prude but... string!"
Grow up ffs.

don't like it either. We all know women have periods. It hasn't stopped women from doing anything before, so what's the point? Is nothing private anymore? and its a bloody long tampon string too

I'm genuinely amazed so many people on here have a negative response. It's a tiny bit of string, signalling to you that someone is doing yoga to help her period pain (slow, mediative class, not roller blading in white jeans). Is that really a big deal, in an ad that generally is clearly coming from a pretty decent understanding of women and the barriers they can face to doing sport, whilst still trying to keep a positive celebratory tone.

Previous ad for those who haven't seen it... no tampons, you're safe...

If she’s depicted as grabbing a tampon or pad on her way to exercise, you get stuck with choosing a colour wrapper to avoid looking like you’re advertising Tampax or Li-lets or whatever. A visible string is neutral and doesn’t risk looking like product placement.

Sounds stupid, I’d like to star in one showing me in my blood spattered bathroom piling the sanitary towels up like Jenga and trying to wash the clots from the menstrual cup: this woman fucking can’t!!

Better still, for the sensitive, that other ad just above, talks about us as women.

It's shown for like a split second. Does it really matter?

I think it really depends on why it was there. If it was there because the girl in the ad was on her period and they decided not to edit - good choice.

If they asked for her to wear a tampon to get the shot then it might be a bit of a odd choice, but I can see what they're trying to do.

Having a string visible has never happened to me,nor did I ever think to worry.Had I seen that shot as a young woman I would have worried.

I don’t understand how it helps anything. I also don’t think it’s respectful of women to have a big shot of a woman’s ass on the screen.

If Period education is such a huge problem in an industrialized country with a top notch education system, then a tv commercial is not going to fix. I was taught in school that I could swim and do sports all month long. But really, not every woman has it so easy; our bodies don’t all operate the same way.

I’m tired of being told I need society to empower me because I’m just a wee woman who otherwise wont accomplish anything.

@HannaYeah the whole point of the ad is that women's bodies don't all work the same way. That fat people, people with painful periods, pale for whom movement is difficult

...accidentally pressed send. But yes, people for whom exercise is difficult, painful, or maybe used to be embarrassing, can all do something and feel good.

You've spectacularly missed the point.

Utter shit ... as if the reality of periods is a string hanging out your knickers while you're taking part in sport . Christ if that's the reality of periods for you then you got off lucky

@Looneytune253 I didn't even notice it, but it's pretty stupid, as most women would have the common sense to not let a tampon string dangle loose/hang out of their underpants.

Lots of lovely box-ticking in that advert though.