At long last, a feminine hygiene manufacturer has taken it upon themselves to tell the truth about what periods entail. When the UK-based company Bodyform, received a snarky message from a dude on their Facebook wall, they didn't let it go -- they responded with an equally snarky (and arguably much more hilarious) video.
On October 8th, a man named Richard Niell posted a lengthy comment on Bodyform's public Facebook page accusing the company (in a tongue-in-cheek tone) of misleading him for years. The full post reads:
Hi , as a man I must ask why you have lied to us for all these years . As a child I watched your advertisements with interest as to how at this wonderful time of the month that the female gets to enjoy so many things ,I felt a little jealous. I mean bike riding , rollercoasters, dancing, parachuting, why couldn't I get to enjoy this time of joy and 'blue water' and wings !! Dam my penis!! Then I got a girlfriend, was so happy and couldn't wait for this joyous adventurous time of the month to happen .....you lied !! There was no joy , no extreme sports , no blue water spilling over wings and no rocking soundtrack oh no no no. Instead I had to fight against every male urge I had to resist screaming wooaaahhhhh bodddyyyyyyfooorrrmmm bodyformed for youuuuuuu as my lady changed from the loving , gentle, normal skin coloured lady to the little girl from the exorcist with added venom and extra 360 degree head spin. Thanks for setting me up for a fall bodyform , you crafty bugger
After Richard's message went viral, getting nearly 84,000 likes and over 3,500 comments (the Bodyform page itself has 4,148 likes), the company decided to respond in video form. "We loved Richard’s wicked sense of humour," reads a comment posted this morning on the Bodyform Facebook page. "We are always grateful for input from our users, but his comment was particularly poignant. If Facebook had a 'love' button, we'd have clicked it. But it doesn't. So we've made Richard a video instead." And the video just happens to be amazing.
The spot features Bodyform's fictional CEO Caroline Williams delivering a sobering message to Richard and men who feel deceived by the blue water/white sheets/rock climbing/beaming smiles and various euphemisms for menstruation that are hallmarks of tampon and maxi pad advertising. "I hate to tell you this," says Williams, "but there's no such thing as a happy period. The reality is, some people simply can't handle the truth."
Now, thanks to Richard, mankind has been exposed to the reality of menstruation. (Hint: it doesn't consist of blue water ... it involves blood.) "You Richard, have torn down that veil and exposed that myth, thereby exposing every man to a reality we hoped they would never have to face," says Williams. Now, who wants to take a sip of that beautifully dyed water?
[H/T Jessica Valenti]
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