“Offensive” Tampax ad banned in Ireland

[SuperSleepyBaby]

Just sharing this as I’ve seen this ad discussed on here before.

It's a terrible advert and absolutely cringe, but it's not 'offensive' FFS!

"Children asking questions", hah. I never understood this complaint. It was a big one in the 90s about gay people being more visible. Why do some people seem to be incapable of talking to their own kids?

I find the advert a bit cringe, but mostly because of how sanitised it is and how its desperately trying to be non threatening.
Personally I have never gone in for tampons after reading a leaflet for TSS which scarred me for life.

Men know the colour blood too - shock.

What’s infuriating is the article gets the can’t/can feel the tampon statement the wrong way round! It says if you CANT feel it it’s not in far enough but that’s the opposite to the advert (and the truth) so there CLEARLY is a need for this kind of ad and information

My DD is 8 and knows about periods and has done for years because she used to follow me everywhere. There is nothing shameful about them so I answered her questions.

My 10 year old son too - I mean, he avoids it now, but when he was younger he'd follow me everywhere chatting, so yes, he got to see me changing tampons/towels/cups and obviously asked questions, which I answered in age appropriate ways. They all know that every now and then I have a day when I won't want to get up to much and will have a bath and nap instead! (although, Evening Primose Oil seems to have removed all discomfort my last 2 periods, so long may that last!)

Ireland doesn't seem to have an issue with tampons otherwise - it's not like some countries I've lived in where they're virtually impossible to buy for instance.

That's ridiculous! There's absolutely nothing wrong with that message or how it's delivered. It's not offensive any more than being a woman or having periods is offensive! It pisses me right off that they've banned that on the basis that some people don't want to think about it. Well I don't want to fucking think about either thanks very much, but it's tough shit because there's no booting out of my biology. I don't get my period and think "hm, I don't fancy this today, let's see what's on the other channel"! I don't necessarily want to see an ad about Viagra, or prostate cancer or charities showing people or animals suffering. But that's life. You don't get to cancel it because it doesn't affect you and you don't like the look of it. Well apparently you do now. But how fucking dare they?

Sorry ladies, but your body and it's functions are fucking disgusting and we don't want to be reminded of it, so no we won't be advertising anything to meet your biological needs, or any advice on how to comfortably use the products you need.

They are saying "the feelings of over-sensitive misogynists come before your biological needs as a woman and your physical comfort during your period". Nice. Where do I complain?

A girl at my kids' school freaked out last year (she would have been 9 or so) because she saw blood in the toilet and thought something terrible had happened. Proper meltdown.

9 years old, and nobody has thought it might be prudent to mention that this happens to girls? That it's a normal function of a healthy female body?

God, it's depressing sometimes how we just never seem to get any further forward.

I really dislike the advert. I am surprised its been banned though.

This is another thing to file under the heading of "Female biology is offensive" and "Women talking about female biology is even more offensive" and (probably) "Women talking about anything that doesn't centre men hurts their feelings".

Fed up with it all.

9 years old, and nobody has thought it might be prudent to mention that this happens to girls? That it's a normal function of a healthy female body?

To be fair, my kid got to 6 and was given a book about teeth falling out, and I realised I'd never thought to prepare him that all his teeth would slowly fall out and be replaced soon. I can see that perhaps, if you're a private kind of family so you'd never let your daughter see you dealing with periods, you might just forget how old she's getting and not realise it's definitely time to start talking about it before it happens.

God, it's depressing sometimes how we just never seem to get any further forward

Tbh I think the whole industry needs sn overhaul. It seems less about providing you with discreet and reliable protection and more about making you feel crap about yourself so they can sell you over priced "solutions" to problems they created.

Course sensitive ranges are more expensive. And own brands are cheap but have less of a range so you can spend 80 p on sainsbury own or 3 quid on the fancy ones.

The only way to promote the new ones seems to be to insinuate the old ones are crap and everyone can see them through your clothes so you need these other super discreet ones. A year ago they said the same about the ones you are using now.

People dont want to be shamed and mocked they just want to buy something that works and isn't introduced to them by people who's stance is you are too stupid to use them.

"Tbh I think the whole industry needs sn overhaul. It seems less about providing you with discreet and reliable protection and more about making you feel crap about yourself so they can sell you over priced "solutions" to problems they created."

Right, I remember a Tampax advert where they likened using pads to using nappies. Such a shitty way to advertise.

Men know the colour blood too - shock.

🤦‍♀️

Right, I remember a Tampax advert where they likened using pads to using nappies. Such a shitty way to advertise

The product should stand alone. If you need to belittle other products then you have nothing really.

And why are sensitive ranges not standard.

Why are people having to pay extra to not be made sore? Its a sensitive area if there's even a small risk somone might react to it then don't use it. Hypoallergenic should be the default not something peope have to pay extra for.

It's 2020 ! How on earth is this offensive ? I just says something that needs saying. It's so much better than the nonsense I grew up with where periods weren't discussed explicitly and they just did demonstrations of blue liquid being poured onto sanitary towels.

I was a bit of a pioneer tampon user compared to the other girls at school (or should I say menstruators ). Some of whom had mother's who believed tampons would take away your virginity

Men know the colour blood too - shock.

I think you're missing the point...

Instead of complaining here, we can all write to [email protected] - lets flood them with complaints about their decision!!!

There's a petition to reinstate it.

Quite pathetic it was banned. There's girls out there who are not educated probably about period. So regardless of people thinking its patronising or what not it's a good idea to get messages across.

The complaints are just saddening really. You could presume the women who complained may have raised or are raising girls.

Link to petition
www.change.org/p/advertising-standards-authority-for-ireland-asai-bring-back-the-tampax-and-tea-ad?recruiter=16389545&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=petition_dashboard&recruited_by_id=4faf6e90-cbec-012f-0c26-4040b09128dc

It's really cheesy but not offensive

Over 80% of the people who complained were women
www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0802/1156983-tampax-ad-complaints/

Excellent piece by Róisín Ingle in todays Irish Times. I think it's subscriber only but she's linked to it in her twitter feed. She talks about women and girls repeatedly in it. ♥️

It doesn’t shock me at all that most of the complaints were from women tbh

The advert is a bit silly but is a big step forward in terms of how it talks informatively about women's anatomy. It's so inoffensive, I am Irish and am mortified that it was banned.

Applicator tampons are really important, they were my first steps to using non-applicator and then shock horror.. A moon cup. They really give a lot of women comfort and freedom.