VAGINA - Yes, I said it!

About a week ago, I watched a Kotex ad on TV that caught my attention. The commercial features a woman in her 20s describing how she felt about her period, explaining how it made her feel like "dancing" and "twirling in slow motion" in her "white spandex." The ad ends with the tag line, "Why are tampon ads so ridiculous?"

I thought the commercial was really smart and funny, and told myself I should start buying Kotex because they deserve to be rewarded for creating such a great ad. A few days later, to my surprise, I learned that the commercial had spawned a controversy and criticism from TV networks for its frank approach toward a topic that has long been considered taboo.

I don't want to start ranting about censorship or freedom of speech here because that's only going to spur a debate that we know will never be fully resolved. Instead, I want to comment on how, thanks to social media and Web 2.0, consumers are finally able to receive the transparency they deserve with respect to being informed about the products they buy. Whether or not ads ends up being banned from certain TV networks or countries makes no difference now. Thanks to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Digg and YouTube, consumers everywhere will always be able to access them in some way, which, of course, is great news for companies! Yet another example of how the web is changing the marketing world.

Mae

Related links:
Kotex website