Terms "Vagina" and "Down There" Banned from T.V. Ads

Kotex decided to "break the cycle" of bad tampon ads with a new campaign to ditch the euphemisms and ridiculous scenes of happy, dancing women in favor of real talk and some gold old-fashioned self-mockery. Unfortunately, television networks would really prefer that they stick to the euphemisms and scenes of women running on a beach.

Three broadcast networks rejected an ad for using the dirty word "vagina." So Kotex had the ad reshot, using the second grade euphemism "down there." Two out of three networks still considered that to be inappropriate. (Unfortunately, they're not telling which networks made this ludicrous decision, or you can bet they'd be getting emails from Change.org readers.)

“It’s very funny because the whole spot is about censorship,” Merrie Harris, global business director at JWT, which created the T.V. spot, told the New York Times. “The whole category has been very euphemistic, or paternalistic even, and we’re saying, enough with the euphemisms, and get over it. Tampon is not a dirty word, and neither is vagina.” Au contraire, say squeamish networks that think lady-products are icky.

The U by Kotex website asks girls and women to sign the "Declaration of Real Talk," vowing not to succumb to societal pressure that prefers women to pretend that they don't bleed once a month; that they don't get cramps, breakouts, and other side effects that make it suck; and that they don't need and carry pads and tampons with them most of the time. And part of the pledge -- which these television networks need to take -- is to "know that 'vagina' isn't a dirty word."

The campaign also lets you make your own tampon ad spoof; even better, for every signature, Kotex will donate $1 to Girls for Change, an organization that empowers women to, well, change things.

Photo credit: ecastro