This Is Why Women's Hygiene Companies Shouldn't Let Teen Boys Run Their Marketing Teams
4:49 pm - 02/22/2013Playtex Products (not to be confused with the entirely separate Playtex bra company) decided to run an edgy ad campaign (if you define middle-school lady-part jokes to be "edgy") for "Fresh + Sexy wipes", a private parts washcloth. I haven't confirmed who wrote the ads, but the only rational explanation is that some vice president there thought that letting his teenage son who loves porn and has no understanding of women should be given free reign over a campaign for feminine hygiene products. Cheap puns are easy, but tolerable. Shaming women about their sex organs... not so much.
For the woman in your life who loves her private parts as much as a Benny Hill sketch:
For the lady who loves trashy novels and purity balls:
For the frat boy who manstrates:
For the – never mind, this is just gross. Fire them already.
You can let them know how awful their ads are here because they don't allow comments on their Facebook wall here.
UPDATE: Some commenters have also pointed out that these adult wet wipes are actually unhealthy for you. The thing with wipes and douches is that 9 out of 10 of them will cause pH imbalances (resulting in itchiness, odor, discharge, dryness, and in extreme cases, bacterial vaginosis.) So not only are they poorly made, juvenile and uncreative, they are actually something women should actively avoid for health reasons. Good times.
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SOURCE.
Here is another source on this.
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OP: Yep. Apparently advertisers still believe in the old trick of shaming women about their bodies in order to sell them crap they don't need.
Edited at 2013-02-23 03:53 am (UTC)
The guys in the class didn't see any problems with the ads. The girls in the class were flipping their shit.
Oh progress.
........................................
That's all I got.
I'd rather bleed through all my clothes than wear your products. Try less misogynous[sic] marketing, Playtex.
Agreed.
that's so bad even my clueless boyfriend cringed.
OMG. D:
Your vagina is cleaner than your mouth.
Keep that shit far away from it.
2) It's not about the fact that the vulva can become sticky and possibly stinky. It's the fact that the ads are shaming women for how their bodies naturally work, as well as implying that if they don't make sure their genitals are completely odor-free and squeaky-clean at all times, that they're sexually undesirable. I'm having a difficult time articulating it well, but I just... don't understand how you can completely miss the misogyny in these ads.
"We wanted to address the concerns that have been raised here on our official Facebook page and the Playtex Sport page. We hear you. We're listening. We respect your opinions.
We do not believe women are unclean. We do not believe men are unclean either. We do, however, believe there is room for spontaneity to reenter their sex lives. Feeling confidently clean--both before and after sex--helps men and women be ready for anything.
Our purpose is not to shame bodies, but to celebrate moments. Yes, those moments.
Happy Valentine's Weekend. Now go be a lovebird."
Umm... Fuck you very much, you completely missed the point.
Um. Ew.
I can just see the meeting with the marketing team:
"Guys, this will be hilarious, now just go with me here..."
Shut up.
Lol dick wipes. I'm with everyone saying this is a dumb product. If a woman wants to freshen up before getting it on, there's regular washcloths without terrifying chemicals on them.
...wouldn't a clean pecker and polished knob apply to a man's dick wipes?
Yeah, I think they're meant to be for everyone, and I don't really have a problem with the product itself.
But the advertising... ugh.
That, and I don't know which is worse, these ads or the Summer's Eves ads:
Also, many of the facebook comments are GLORIOUS:
just thinking about going home to polish my knob and clean my beaver, like every other modern day woman! defiantly NOT midterms or silly voting uhg why did we want that right anyway
I bet your ten second daydream is being able to go back in time to prevent all this, yes?
I dream of a world where women are not objectified and where women-targeted marketing is done by tasteful, talented, professionals AND where companies don't invent problems that don't exist to rip me off and fill the landfills.
And here's my own two sense (in response to what is you 10 sec daydream):
Tossing your ads and products into the fires of Mount Doom where it belongs. Those ads were gross, you should feel gross, and you can bet that I'm not going to spend one red cent on your products again.
Edited at 2013-02-23 06:35 am (UTC)
Edited at 2013-02-23 08:53 am (UTC)
A+++ at getting me to not ever want to buy their products, idiots.
If you want the good-yet-affordable stuff, go with Stayfree/Carefree. Much better quality product, and no shitty body-shaming ad campaigns.
I'd like to know which networks would show these advertisements as well as which magazines. Despite being inclusive for men and women, I do feel that they are targeting a female demographic.
I'm going to be honest. Genitals are a body part that seem to be more prone to stickiness/odours/sweat etc and freshening up before sex acts is just plain courteous for all involved no matter what you have going on between the legs. These could come in real useful on a camping trip, just sayin.
However, I'll stick to a plain old washcloth. Do we really need yet another pointless hygeine product? It's a money grab, preying on (mainly) women's insecurities that exist in the first place because of marketing campaigns like this.
This whole product reminds me (TMI) of getting my first yeast infection, while on vacation some 500 miles from home. I didn't know what it was, so I thought I'd clean things up with soap and water. What a fine time to discover how allergic I was to Ivory soap. I could barely see straight for the next two days until we got back (this was over 25 years ago, when you had to get prescriptions for yeast-infection meds).
God, what a nightmare!
The only yeast infection I've had was after a massive course of antibiotics and it was deeply sucktastic. It turns out I'm horribly allergic to most brands of over-the-counter yeast infection treatments...OH GOD, THE BURNING! I had to jump in the shower shortly after applying a dose because I thought I was going to die. And that external cream they give you to help the itching is the worst thing EVER.
And yes, I've had the same experience with using OTC YI treatments. The Monistat cream had me lying in bed moaning from the burning.
1) As so many people above said, shouldn't wipe your vulva with chemicals. Water is enough. So congratulations on advertising stuff that can actively harm women, dumbfucks.
2) I am so utterly and unbelievably tired of the notion that whatever I do to my body is for male benefit. I dress up - it's for men to ogle me. I put on make up - it's for men to ogle me. I do my hair - it's for men to ogle me. I clean my vagina - it's to smell good for the man fucking me. According to men eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeverything I ever do revolves around their whims and their pleasure. Newsflash, you impotent boys with small dicks: Whatever I do I do it for myself, not for you. You, your needs and your pleasure are all an irrelevant afterthought. And if I choose to do something for a specific male individual I am not doing it because he's a man, I am doing it because I found him to be a worthy person - being a man is not part of that. The world does not revolve around your dicks - it's fucking time for you to wrap your silly, little, egotistical minds around that notion.
3) These ads are created by boys whose only understanding of female sexuality comes from pornography. They are vulgar, juvenile, objectifying and downright ignorant and the idea that they can successfully convince adult, mature women to use their products falls somewhere between tragic and hilarious.
Oh yes, this! All of this!