back to article Sanitary towel firm's 'CEO' sets traumatised man straight

Sanitary towel outfit Bodyform has gained itself some serious internet kudos with a video response to a Brit chap's complaint that women's periods are not a rollercoaster ride of joy and outdoor activity, as the firm's ads suggest. Richard Neill recently challenged Bodyform on Facebook: Hi, as a man I must ask why you have …

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  1. Arbee
    Thumb Up

    Classic. The blue water she is drinking is a particularly nice touch.

    1. TRT Silver badge

      Crimson landslide...

      isn't that rumoured to be the title of an episode in the next session of Doctor Who?

      1. Captain Hogwash
        Coat

        Re: Crimson landslide...

        She should have said crimson tide methinks.

    2. David Webb

      I think the part at the end where she farts is the real nice touch here, showing that women are indeed just like men, only without the male bits and.... actually, how many men would really post on a topic about a females time of the month without running away running and screaming in terror? Holy shit, that chick got men talking about periods!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I liked the pencil-snap. So calm on the exterior...

        1. David Webb
          Devil

          I liked the pencil-snap. So calm on the exterior...

          That's a metaphor for snapping something else.......

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            That's a metaphor for snapping something else.......

            Nothing gets past these Registards, does it?

  2. John G Imrie

    10 out of 10

    For letting the marketing bods get to this before the lawyers.

  3. Ian K
    Thumb Up

    As I believe the hip young types put it these days...

    ...pwned!

  4. Piloti
    Thumb Up

    That is really quite funny.......

  5. FartingHippo
    Go

    As Miss Poppins would say...

    ...Practically Perfect In Every Way.

    (I bet Mary's periods were accompanied by cute animated animals)

  6. PaulWizard
    Happy

    Genius!

    That is all

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well done - bravo. The fart tops it for me...

  8. WorkingFromHome

    Marketing...

    Call me a cynical old sod if you like but this whole thing looks like a set up to me.

    Is everyone sure the original "complaint" was real or was it just the start of a planned piece of PR?

    Nicely done but I suspect not genuine...

    1. Pinkerton
      Black Helicopters

      Re: Marketing...

      The poster of the original complaint has been on Facebook since 2009 and has acquired over 360 'friends' in that time. I'm sure if you could be arsed, you could search through those friends to see if any of them have links to any part of the Bodyform empire, ad agencies or whatever.

      On the other hand it could just be some bloke recycling a veeeeeeeery old joke and the company on the receiving end having a sense of humour and knowing how to exploit it.

      1. Lester Haines (Written by Reg staff) Gold badge

        Re: Re: Marketing...

        I had a look at the guy on Facebook. I don't reckon he's part of a PR stunt.

        Whatever. Big up rispek to Bodyform for the vid.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Marketing...

        Are you aware that PR companies pay normal people to write stuff in their Facebook / Twatter accounts? There was a Register article about an automatic grass mower not that long ago, and a couple of years back my village did the same thing to attract more tourism. It's just another tool in the marketer's toolbox.

        1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

          Re: Marketing...

          Are you aware that PR companies pay normal people to write stuff in their Facebook / Twatter accounts?

          Horror! Can this be true? Next you'll tell us that sock-puppets and spambots are real too.

          Pretty clever of the diabolical marketers to wait three years to respond to their Astroturfed provocation, though. That should fool all but the most insightful observers. Good thing Captain Hogwash and the Super Cynics (with special guest star WorkingFromHome and featuring the Coward Corps) caught it for us!

          Certainly there's a tremendous difference between a spontaneous joke response, and one that was a set-up. Remind me again what that difference is, would you?

    2. Evan Essence

      Re: Marketing...

      I don't buy that. If it were fake, the "complaint" wouldn't have bad spacing round the punctuation, and would be more polished overall.

    3. Captain Hogwash
      Meh

      Re: Marketing...

      Even if the original "complaint" wasn't part of a marketing/PR effort, it was surely not meant as a genuine complaint but rather as a lame attempt at humour. The fact that the video response happened at all seems to confirm either the previously suggested setup or that some really dim types didn't get it to believe that a response was necessary.

      1. NogginTheNog
        FAIL

        Re: Marketing...

        I think you're missing the point of PR: to get people talking about your product. Remind me again, what are we doing here...?

        1. JetSetJim
          Thumb Up

          Re: Marketing...

          Yeah, we're talking about it, but how many are we going to buy as a market segment? :-)

          Excellent campaign, though.

        2. Captain Hogwash

          Re: Marketing...

          We're not talking about a product. We're talking about the motivation behind a moderately amusing internet video.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Marketing...

            I thought we were talking about farts.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Marketing...

      Yeah, me too, a lifelong cynic. But if it is a setup who cares? It's actually funny - really funny, and brilliantly executed. That from memory is what a good deal of TV advertising did years ago; it was witty or stylish in some way that allowed it to claim a minor place in the culture as sufficiently entertaining not to annoy. Marketing these days is pushy, deceitful, breathless and sweaty, hence no one pays it much attention. Fuck aspirational, humour (particularly self parody) will do me just fine.

      1. Captain Hogwash
        Thumb Up

        Re: Marketing...

        "breathless and sweaty" has it's place :-)

    5. kevca
      Holmes

      Re: Marketing...

      The response video was certainly coordinated with a press launch. This article appeared at exactly the same time the video was put up. Note that the article already claims it's viral. I saw the video at about 400 views at this point.

      http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/bodyform-period-myth-advertising-video-response#image-rotator-1

      This was 8 days from the original post, which probably didn't get popular until a few days after posting. You'd suspect that getting press lined up, making the video, getting clearance for the campaign, would all take some time to organise.

      I'm guessing the poster was genuine, as in they are a real person. I'm assuming Bodyform asked them to post it, however, or there's some connection there. Cynical me...

  9. P.Nutt

    Title Space for Rent or Sale

    Got to love a company with a sense of humour lol

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Title Space for Rent or Sale

      Perhaps, but be aware any sense of humour only exists to sell products that aren't really necessary anyway. *

      Getting an actress + minimal set crew isn't something an employee has done out of a sense of fun; a business case has been made for this.

      * The "cups" work just as well as the pads, and are MUCH cheaper over a woman's lifetime. (Majority opinion of the the three women I've actually discussed this with.)

      1. Neil B
        Facepalm

        Re: Title Space for Rent or Sale

        Well done @AC, you've torn down the veil. Couldn't fool you for long!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Devil

          Re: Torn *down* the veil?

          You've been reading ...The Register!

  10. Dave 126

    Bodyform advertisements were lampooned in mid nineties on a sketch in The Ben Elton Show, along similar lines to Richard Neill's complaint. Mr Elton also exposed the dangers of women uncontrollably swinging their hair around in slow motion after using shampoo and conditioner. But well played, Bodyform!

    The adverts that really need bashing are for skin care, with their fake 'Swiss laboratories', dubious statistics ("87% of women agree!* ... [small print:] *study of 37 women") and pseudo scientific animations of their product 'in action'. They don't do real science and statistics, or real women, (or women in science!) any favours at all.

    Frank Zappa had a spin on it, too:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqYOIp66w9I&feature=relmfu

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Well remembered!

      I'd forgotten Ben Elton had done that routine.

      I'd just like to point out that you made a small, but important flaw in your summing up of the dubious statistics. It's an easy mistake as you quite rightly end where the adverts do. What they fail to add to that small print as they do not have to legally declare it yet is this:

      *study of 37 women chosen from carefully selected consumer panels consisting of women who already buy our products and have a proven track record of believing any shit we tell them.")

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @Dave 126

      Good call re: Shampoo, or those make up / hide your age adverts.

      "87% of women agreed that they skin appeared more radiant."

      The keyword there being appeared. You could give them water or 'crisp and dry' and the placebo affect will make their skin appear radiant.

      1. garetht t

        Re: @Dave 126

        Also, weasel words like "can help hide the appearance of wrinkles."

        ie. In a study of 10000 women, one of them thought her wrinkles looked better. So it *can* do it!

        My comments are proven to reduce weightloss

        when combined with an active lifestyle and a healthy diet.

    3. dssf
      Joke

      the 37s

      And THAT is the 37 that *

      *

      - did not develop skin rashes, experience diarrhea, constipation, spontaneously-inverted eyelids, pupil recolorization, 360° head spins, vomiting, dizziness, prolonged mensteuation, excessively dry urination, scratchy throat, itchy ass, enlarged knuckles, curled toes, visions of screaming lab animals, or other "experimental miss adventures prior to the survey...

      Jkjkjkjkjkjkjk

      And not the "The 37s" from ST Voyager

      1. dssf

        Re: the 37s

        btw, just in case, my posting is related not to sanitary napkins but to skin lotions. Some are rash makers for some people. Some are egregious wastes of consumer cash. But, the FDA and the market tolerate all sorts of non-lethal bullshit in the market even if the product does not deserve shelf space.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Made up stats

      I think you've made up those stats.

      In a study of 37 women, 32 women agreeing would be 86% and 33 women agreeing would be 89%.

      It's not mathematically possible for a study of 37 women to result in 87% of them agreeing.

      I call shenanigans.

      1. Dave 126

        Re: Made up stats

        >In a study of 37 women, 32 women agreeing would be 86% and 33 women agreeing would be 89%. It's not mathematically possible for a study of 37 women to result in 87% of them agreeing.

        'A girl can change her mind, can't she?'

        I made up the figures on the spot, as well you know! I did consider calculating figures that would work, but felt it was overkill to make the point! : D

  11. TRT Silver badge

    This is not funny...

    I was part of that test panel in the 80s. *shudders at memory*

    ;-)

  12. Ralph B
    Headmaster

    Metaphor?

    The fake CEO in the fake response to the probably fake Facebook post claims that the imagery used in the adverts - horse-riding, sky-diving, etc. - are "metaphors".

    Now, a "metaphor" is:

    1. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

    2. A thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else, esp. something abstract.

    So, the ad images are metaphors to ... what exactly? Something similarly positive? Happiness? Excitement? No? What then?

    Or is "metaphor" just an advertising term for "lie"?

    Sorry to be so pompous about this but words and their meanings matter.

    1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

      Re: Metaphor?

      They're a metaphor for the relative freedom from misery that sanitary products apparently provide women and presumably for the joy that comes with not having to stuff rags down your pants and rinse them out in the river every day.

      Seems all those years I spent at university have finally found a use...

    2. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Graham Dawson Silver badge

        Re: Metaphor?

        There's an allegory in that somewhere.

  13. Mike 68

    PR - you're doing it right

    By the way, is the 80s ad with the Heart-style vocals the best ad ever? In terms of being memorable, I doubt there's anyone over 30 who could forget it. WooooAAAAAAAAOOOAH BWODYFOOOOOORMM

    1. TeeCee Gold badge
      Mushroom

      Re: PR - you're doing it right

      I doubt there's anyone over 30 who could forget it.

      Maybe so, but we're all trying very hard to forget it and you are not fucking helping.

    2. TRT Silver badge
      Paris Hilton

      Re: music for Bodyform ads...

      It could have been worse if they got Winifred Atwell to do the score.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXV5wRjGEk8

      I can just imagine a piece titled "The Jam Rag".

      Paris for never letting things get in the way.

      1. TRT Silver badge

        Re: music for Bodyform ads...

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXV5wRjGEk8

        (Damn linkyness fail!)

    3. This post has been deleted by its author

  14. A J Stiles
    Thumb Up

    Genius

    Drinking the blue stuff and farting -- pure class!

    Periods are just a bodily function, for crying out loud. One that's been happening to half the human race, every four weeks, since time immemorial. You would have thought people would have got used to the idea by now.

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