Kotex mocks its longtime ad strategy in new spots

Dissing your own brand seems to be up and coming as a new marketing strategy.

First Domino’s admitted in a series of ads that its sucky pizza was basically ketchup and cardboard. Now Kotex is taking aim at its ownself, releasing some ads that mock the traditional euphemistic style of feminine hygiene product advertising. A hip, twenty-something woman tells someone off-camera how her period just makes her “want to dance” and other assorted digs at tampon ads:

“How do I feel about my period? I love it.”

She continues, “Sometimes I just want to run on a beach,” as footage shows a woman running along the shore. “Usually, by the third day, I really just want to dance,” she says, to footage of women dancing ecstatically. As blue liquid is poured on a pad in another clip, she concludes, “The ads on TV are really helpful because they use that blue liquid, and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s what’s supposed to happen.’

A subsequent ad in the campaign addresses the models and actresses cast in typical tampon commercials:

Another spot, which will make its debut next month, opens with a woman strolling confidently toward the camera. “I’m a believably attractive 18- to 24-year-old female,” she says. “You can relate to me because I’m racially ambiguous. Market research shows that girls like you love girls like me.”

Interesting, three unnamed networks declined to air the spots, first because of the use of the word “vagina,” and then because the word was replaced with “down there.” The commercials use footage from feminine hygiene products that aired as recently as this year, and Andrew Meurer, vice president for North American feminine, adult and senior care for Kotex’s parent company Kimberly-Clark told the Times that Kotex is as guilty as their peers in clouding over the whole vagina issue, but that they’re hoping to change:

“We’re really out there and we’re trying to touch women and say we care about this conversation,” said Mr. Meurer, of Kotex. “We’re changing our brand equity to stand for truth and transparency and progressive vaginal care.”

Ha, ha. They’re trying to touch women regarding their vaginal care. Below is the first of the new hoo-ha positive clip, is it a step in the right direction for tampon makers?

[NYT via Consumerist]