Paper #1

Jenna Thorne

Critical Reading, Writing, and Thinking

EWRT 2 9:30-10:20am M-Th

Lydia Hearn

Paper #1

Menstruation in Advertising: Empowering or Shaming?

She looks groggy. Sore. Exhausted. Irritated, head pounding, swigging a mug of coffee as

she throws some ibuprofen in her mouth. Maybe she’s sick. Maybe she’s hung over. As she

pauses to fumble in her bag for her keys, something slips out onto the floor—a pad. Oh, of

course. She gasps, she looks flustered and angry; she snatches it up off the ground, looking

around to see who had been watching. Pretend you don’t see, walk away, leave her alone. Poor

thing.

Likely you have been on at least one end of this situation—either the girl or the bystander.

Neither is a fun place to be. Periods have long been a source of angst and misery. In ancient

society, menstrual taboos could be found in religious texts. They espoused that women that are

on their periods are unclean and monstrous; you must stay away from them, do not touch them.

Even in today’s society, menstruation must be hidden. Menstruation must not be mentioned.

Menstruation must be conquered. This is the stance taken by producers of feminine hygiene

products such as Always Infinity Pads. Always Infinity Pad advertisers emphasize the need for

cleanliness and freshness, as well as promote the desire to control the forces of nature; by doing

so, they censor imagery and discourse of actual menstruation and devalue women rather than

empower them.

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Always advertisers encourage consumers’ needs for freshness and cleanliness in their

advertisements. Using specific colors and evoking certain images and ideas through their ads,

they foster the idea of cleanliness and hygiene during a woman’s period. By simplifying their ads,

they can also evoke a sense of cleanliness and emphasize the fact that being “dirty” is

unacceptable. They promote the sense of and need for cleanliness and purity using color, natural

imagery, and simple focus.

The use of color in the ad is sparse and limited, but extremely effective in evoking the

ideal of hygiene in consumers. The ad is mainly blue, with white text and, of course, the white

pad. Blue is traditionally used as a symbol of freshness, as it is associated with water, while

white is a symbol of purity, an association that dates back centuries and has pervaded Western

culture through that time. Using these two colors—and only these two colors—forces the viewer

to consider only the idea of feeing fresh and clean, and makes them idealize the relief of that

feeling. After all, no one wants to be dirty. By avoiding any colors that could evoke an image

other than one of pure cleanliness, the ad creators avoid creating any unwanted mental images

within their consumers’ minds, and keep them focused solely on being and feeling fresh and

clean and pure.

The ad also elicits imagery of the ocean and of water, which in turn create a picture of

renewal and refreshment. The whirlpool in the center of the ad represents the flow of menses, but

because it is a deep, clear blue instead of a more expected color, it instead brings to mind the

flow of water. Whirlpools often occur on top of drains, so their contents are washed away and

swished out of sight, which is precisely what the makers of this ad wanted to show: “your period

will be swept away and forgotten, so you do not have to worry about it.” The background of the

image is also dark blue, and it is highlighted with beams of light akin to those that are visible

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underneath a body of water; in this case, the ocean. The ocean is a prominent symbol of renewal,

because of its constant motion and the fact that it washes away whatever is found on its shores.

Advertisers bring these ideas to mind by including the oceanic motif in the ad.

The ad itself has an incredibly simple layout and focus; this fosters the idea of “no mess,

no problem” that pervades the image. The picture is divided into thirds; along the line between

the top and middle third is the arched text, “Your heavy days are going down.” Along the line

between the middle and bottom thirds is the picture of the pad itself. The whirlpool is broad near

the top, but comes to a point in the very center of the pad. This leads the eye downward and right

to the pad, where the background colors are also lighter. By placing the focus on two crucial

areas, the slogan and the actual product, the advertisers have no clutter or confusion in their ad. If

the ad itself is clean, then so is the product.

Always Infinity advertisers also promote the human desire to control natural forces in

their ad. Humans do not like to be controlled by anyone—or anything. They prefer to be in

control, rather than under control. By using imagery of natural forces and using certain phrases

and expressions, in addition to using contrast and focus of the elements of their ad, the creators

can create a mental idea of force and control upon the natural force of human menstruation.

The ad evokes the image of the ocean and of a tornado or a monsoon or whirlpool, and

emphasizes the ease of reigning in those forces. The blue colors and watery lighting in the

background of the image provoke a picture of the ocean, which is among the most prominent and

mysterious of the world’s forces of nature. The ocean is also associated with the tides, which are

affected by the moon, which is also associated with menstrual cycles; so by implying that the

ocean can be controlled, the ad is also implying that menstruation can be controlled, and vice

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versa. The shape of the whirlpool also brings to mind the shape of a swirling tornado or a

hurricane, implying that a period is a torrential storm that must be stopped, lest there be

devastation and destruction abound. The ad states quite clearly that their pads can stop anything,

even such a storm, so a period would be absolutely nothing in comparison.

The ad also uses language to promote the power fantasy that people have regarding

natural forces. The slogan along the top third of the picture reads: “Your heavy days are going

down.” The casual words have two meanings—firstly, there will be fewer heavy days for you if

you use Always Infinity—and secondly, you can conquer your heavy days using Always Infinity.

The text at the bottom of the ad reads: “Heavy days meet new Always Infinity—the first pad of

its kind. Made with a crazy-absorbent material called Infinicel that has the power to absorb 10x

its weight. So your heavy days won’t spin you out of control.” Using phrases such as “has the

power” and “won’t spin you out of control,” the ad emphasizes the abilities of the pad itself and

additionally, the fact that if you can overpower your period, then it can’t overpower you.

The shape and flow of the images in the ad also place focus on the ability to control and

dominate forces of nature. The way the whirlpool/monsoon is oriented on the image places its

opening across the top edge of the ad, and its drain point right in the center of the pad on the

lower middle of the picture. Even though the whirlpool is huge and takes up most of the ad, it is

being sucked up by the pad, which appears to be lying flat and still. This implies that no matter

how strong the “storm,” no matter how heavy the “rain,” the pad is powerful and strong enough

to absorb it all with no effort. The only thing more impressive than having control over

something is having control over something effortlessly, which is what the ad is communicating

to the viewer: they do not need to try so hard to control their period. The pad is right there; it is

textured and has a shadow beneath it to make it look even more accessible, in addition to the free

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sample offer at the bottom. Consumers want power and control, but they want it to be reachable

and easy to maintain.

By communicating such ideals of power, control, and cleanliness, by idealizing the

domination and concealment of menstruation, and by omitting imagery of “actual” menstruation

in favor of “clean” images, creators of the Always Infinity ad have censored menstruation and

discourse about menstruation. Though it is their selling point, the creators of the ad are shunning

and shaming the very bodily function that allows them to do business. They avoid using

“realistic” imagery and emphasize cleanliness to the point of ridiculousness, in addition to

avoiding using basic language to communicate about periods and using metaphors and

euphemisms in their stead.

The ad creators chose to use blue liquid instead of red, and by doing so, they emphasize

how clean one’s period will be with their product, but also skirt around the realities of a period as

though it is something disgusting or shameful. Many people scoff at the use of mysterious blue

liquid in advertisements, especially regarding periods; but I know of few people who would be

undisturbed if the advertisers actually used the appropriate color. By avoiding the truth, the ads

have made it impossible to tell it. They elude the “gross” aspects of menstruation by using

different colors, but in doing so, they are merely perpetuating the idea that the true color is

something gross and shameful that consumers do not want to see.

The pad itself on the image is still perfectly white and clean, despite the fact that it is

absorbing a huge torrent of liquid; this instills the notion that the pad is strong enough to absorb

the whole thing, but also that there will be no “mess” for the user to have to deal with afterward.

Despite the purpose of a pad being to clean up a mess, consumers still do not want to have to

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deal with the idea of cleaning up the pad. They would prefer that the whole thing be perfectly

contained so that they do not have to touch, see, or smell any of it. This perpetuates the shaming

of menstruation as something dirty and impure that should not be handled and must be kept

concealed and contained. Their message is that it should be easy to deal with your period; and

that implies that if you cannot properly deal with your period, then you are gross and bad just

like your menses.

Additionally, the language used in the ad actively avoids mentioning menstruation or

periods, and focuses instead on communication its purpose using metaphors and euphemisms for

those ideas. The only place the word “period” even appears in the ad is down in the lower right

hand corner, where the Always brand slogan and logo appear: “Have a happy period.” It appears

nowhere else in the ad, not even the description of the pad itself. The slogan in the middle says

“Your heavy days are going down.” By saying “heavy days” instead of “heavy flow” or “heavy

periods,” the advertisers encourage women to avoid using those terms as well, and thus censor

conversation about periods and menstruation and tempt people to use more “decent” language

when talking about menstruation in casual company. This in turn implies that there is something

inappropriate or shameful about using the actual words to refer to something. It says that having

a period is bad enough; you should not be talking about it either.

Because Always advertisers paint menstruation as something shameful and filthy that

should be hidden away and defeated, they devalue women rather than empower them. They

imply, through avoidance of discussion and imagery of real periods, that there is something

wrong and unnatural about having a period, and especially about being open about it. The

advertisers emphasize control of menstruation, and emphasize the need to hide any evidence of

having a period. By doing this they imply that menstruation is a filthy and terrible process, and

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by implying this, they are also communicating that women need to feel guilty about the thing

that makes them women. It strips away the pride that a woman may feel for her body by saying

that there is something wrong with her body. It gives her something to be ashamed of, something

about herself she feels she must hide lest she be ostracized for it. It makes her feel alone, even

though it is something that happens to 50% of the human population, and always has.

Always Infinity advertisers strive to create an image of cleanliness in their ads, and

emphasize the importance of control over nature, in order to market their product. However, in

the process, they have censored actual menstruation and turned it into something disgusting and

shameful, and in turn, they have stripped away the confidence and pride of women who are on

their periods. They imply that if something needs to be cleaned, then it must be something filthy.

They imply that if something needs to be controlled, then it must be something wild and evil. If it

is something that happens to women, then it must be their fault and their burden. They must not

be able to appreciate or accept the things that happen to their own bodies. They must censor

themselves and they must censor each other. They must not be empowered by this thing; rather,

they must be made to feel ashamed and embarrassed about their own bodies.

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