How is the contrast concerning menstruation on television and social media?

For eras, menstrual blood has raised many different beliefs in diverse parts of the world. Totally unsound beliefs which led to periods being rejected and taboo. This way of thinking still persists today in our modern western societies.

Why do we have to lower our voices when we ask for pads? Why is the blood mostly blue in broadcasts? Furthermore, why do we use expressions like “Russians have arrived”, “being indisposed” to talk about periods?

These examples illustrate the individual and societal discomfort with menstruation. This phenomenon is palpable in the broadcast media, where menstruation is not explicitly shown and where menstruation and by-products are minimized.

In contrast to broadcast media, on the Internet, especially on Instagram, we can observe a broken taboo regarding menstruation, which promotes the emancipation of women. Case in point, brands like Nana, Tampax or Dans ma culotte who had the initiative to change the image of menstruation in broadcast were censored.

How is the contrast between both formats?

For many years, we have seen countless advertisements about menstruation. However, their representation is misleading, idealized and intimately linked to the eternal taboo of this so-called dirty blood. Thus, the numerous advertisements of brands such as Always, Tampax or Nett, follow a normalized and exclusionary model that does not dare to address the subject in a simple and direct way.

It was in 1831, discovered by a French doctor, that menstruation was linked to ovulation. Before that, popular opinion suggested that menstruation was a form of detoxification, allowing women to evacuate poisoned blood or to calm strong emotions.

In New York, in the 1870s, the first advertisements for menstrual products began to appear, mostly for reusable menstrual pads that were held in place by belts worn under the clothes. In 1885, an advertisement in Harper’s Bazaar offered menstrual belts that can support a napkin as well as panty hose.

It’s in the 1920s, that Kotex was created. It was the first disposable sanitary pad that went on sale. It was manufactured by the paper company Kimberly-Clark. They realized that the disposable cellulose used in bandages, which they used on patients were perfect to use as menstrual pads since they soaked up blood better than cotton and didn’t need to be washed and reused. These products were great for convenience, not so great for the environment.

The first advertisements for these menstrual pads were published in newspapers and magazines. The goal of the brands was to convince women that menstruation should be kept secret. The targets of these ads were white, married, rich and attractive women. The word menstruation was not used in these ads, in favor of more evasive terms.

It was in 1931, that an American doctor, Earle Haas invented the modern-day tampon, made out of compressed cotton, a string, and a tube-in-tube applicator.

The tampons were not accepted very well by women and society as a whole. Women thought they were uncomfortable, society thought it was strange to insert a product in the vagina. They were not successful at the beginning of their launch. It was some time later that they became famous thanks to word-ofmouth and the fact that they were practical and not noticeable.

The 1940s saw the birth of the glamourization of the woman as a sex goddess in advertisement. Glamorous, sexy and ultra-feminine models invaded the advertisements. From 1945, we see the birth of post-war optimism in the United States, then in Europe. Intimate hygiene products appeared in artistic, elegant and sophisticated campaigns.

Around the 1960s, advertisements for menstrual products depicted a free woman, young, white, thin, happy and active woman, dressed in white. Tampax used this model with the slogan “You get total freedom with Tampax”. Menstruation was always concealed in those advertisements, as if saying that even during menstruation the woman is happy and continues her usual life.

In the late 1970s, the Toxic Shock Syndrome crisis, exacerbated by the Procter & Gamble super-absorbent Rely tampons (withdrawn from the US market in 1980) incited a new wave of menstrual activism. The scandal, where 38 women in the US died, saw a drop in tampon use for the first time.

In the United States, advertisements for sanitary protection were forbidden on television and radio so as not to shock the viewer. The ban was lifted by the National Association of Broadcasters in 1972.

To ensure their sales, the brands decided to represent menstrual blood by a blue liquid in a beaker. The words “period” or “menstruation” were not used either.

From then on, American advertisers changed their way of communicating. They concentrated on educational communication. We finally saw pictures of the products as well as instructions.

In 1972 as well, Kotex launched a new advertisement: “Mamma can I talk to you about my period?” asks a young girl as she walks along the beach hand in hand with her mother. “Of course,” her mother responds. “But since this is a TV commercial, I’ll have to use confusing metaphors. If I want to explain where a tampon goes, I can’t say the word that rhymes with the serious medical condition, angina.” Poking fun at the fact that ads for menstrual products have historically been euphemistic, ‘Just Get Real’ rebelled against it. But this wasn’t the original version of the ad. Created by JWT, the original was deemed too ’frank’ for using the word ’vagina’, and so got banned by the major US television networks. Even this updated version that substituted ’down under’ for ’vagina’ got dropped by two networks, and so they dropped the idea all together.

In 1980, the advertisements were mainly aimed at teenagers. It was only in 1985 that the word “period” was pronounced in a TV advertisement by Courtney Cox for the Tampax brand.

During that same period, in France, sanitary protection was never shown in advertisements. We only see images of women in everyday life or on a beach running. “Advertising is there to sell products, so it will sell dreams, it will sell happiness.” Everywhere, on TV and in magazines, women having their period seemed to be victims of it, then suddenly got rid of it thanks to various hygienic protections.

Thanks to their pads or tampons, they were freed from the menstrual ordeal, as said, for example, the advertisement for the Tampax Pearl in 2010.

Beyond distorting our vision of menstruation, these ads show a fantasized vision of women. The population represented in these ads is mostly composed of active, white, heterosexual, thin women, sticking to the standards of Western beauty.

In addition to being totally devoid of useful information, these ads carry disturbing messages. By trying to sell the image of a woman who is not a slave to her periods, free to do what she wants every day of the month, they sell us a pure fantasy. Most of the time, we don’t even know if they are trying to sell us shower gel, a vacation in Hawaii or garden furniture.

In 2010, in the United States, a TV spot for Kotex was censored because it included the word vagina.

“Anti-period underwear” makers Thinx made headlines in 2015 when Outfront Media, the company that runs advertising in the New York City subway system, considered not running its outdoor ads because they used the word “period” and include “suggestive” images, such as grapefruits and runny eggs to allude to the female anatomy.

Advertising plays a big role in young people’s understanding of menstruation and of the products available in the market.

It took a decade for the sexist and male-dominated advertising industry — 60% of creative positions are held by men, and only 22% of creative directors are women — to finally react to and embrace these messages. Thanks to women being more present in creative positions in the advertising industry, many recent ads have tried to break the taboos around this subject.

It is only in 2017 that the subject seems to be democratized in society: TV reports, digital advertisements, and newspapers talk about menstruation in a relaxed way.

Experienced more as a shame than as a normal and essential period to our health, menstruation takes its rightful place in this new campaign from the brand Libresse (Bodyform in the UK and Nana in France) entitled Blood Normal in 2017. Unlike traditional sanitary protection ads, this one eradicates the blue liquid. The first TV commercial in the UK which illustrates red-colored menstrual blood wasn’t aired until 2017, receiving much critical acclaim, but also much backlash.

In 2019, the runaway hit “Viva la vulva” Libresse (known as Bodyform in the U.K. and Nana in France) is part of a feminist trend and thus questions us on these societal taboos. We are witnessing a real commitment from the brand: to decomplex women in relation to their intimacy.

For its new advertising campaign, the brand Nana has decided to honor the female sex represented in different forms such as a peach, a shell or an origami. Once again, red blood is shown on television on a sanitary napkin as opposed to the traditional blue liquid.

This broadcast has caused a huge controversy among viewers, some of them judging it as “shocking” especially for young people. Numerous complaints have been filed following its broadcast, the CSA (French broadcast censorship organisation) has however authorised the broadcast of these images since it does not consider that the brand conveys degrading images.

After their previous strike, Libresse and AMV BBDO gave us “Womb Stories.” Vivid, pulpy illustrations combine with live action to convey the complexities of life with a womb, pleasure and pain interwoven. This ad shows also menopause, loss of a child but also the birth. Everything in women’s life.

Despite a slight advancement, the taboo remains. These advertisements for television will unfortunately only be posted on the internet. They were censored for television.

Still, these activities highlighted the stigma surrounding both menstruation and menstrual poverty, or not being able to afford menstrual products-a global issue that has become the focus of campaigns in many countries.

A 2017 survey found that one in 10 women aged 14 to 21 in Britain were affected. In 2018, Scotland committed to providing free menstrual products in schools, universities and colleges, with England followed in 2020.

This perception impacts their experience of the event and causes them to view their status as women as restrictive and negative. Menstruation had to be hidden, and the advertising of intimate hygiene brands echoed this distaste. In particular, by highlighting the anti-leakage, freshness and odour-neutralizing qualities of the products, with a lot of medical imagery. The ad was blunt in telling me that my period was embarrassing, repulsive, smelly and dirty.

It is possible to say that such a traditional advertising medium as television has not yet adapted to changing attitudes. Many censoring authorities still believe that the sight of blood could be offensive. So, as television advertising for sanitary pads receives more and more criticism, new media and new brands that are more inclusive and grounded in reality are taking up the subject.

There is a need to encourage a change in the language used to talk about menstruation to better accommodate the experiences of trans and/or non-binary people as well. Language is also important in addressing stigma; terms such as “sanitary” and “hygiene” imply that menstruation is something unclean (despite the fact that the vagina is self-cleaning) and can reinforce negative perceptions of menstruating bodies.

Around 2008, social media was introduced and with that, a new way of communicating directly to the consumer. Brands and activists alike used various social media platforms to move forward the dialog on menstruation and escape from the television’s controlled messaging, which is still censuring women.

There is a need to encourage a change in the language used to talk about menstruation to better accommodate the experiences of trans and/or non-binary people. Language is also important in addressing stigma; terms such as “sanitary” and “hygiene” imply that menstruation is something unclean (despite the fact that the vagina is self-cleaning) and can reinforce negative perceptions of menstruating bodies.

Almost 90 years after the birth of television, social media appeared and are now a part of our daily life. Nowadays, 43 % of the population use social media like Facebook, YouTube or Instagram, for example. These new forms of media are more adapted to generation Z, since, contrary to television, they allow the diffusion of advertisements which are more inclusive and adapted to their actual needs.

In 2018, the brand Nana was the first one to show an ad with a red liquid and not a blue one on a pad. It was in the advertisement named “Blood normal” which was only shown on social media. Especially on YouTube because the brand knew that it would be censored on television. In this advertisement, consumers can observe different situations to which all menstruated women can identify themselves. For example, a girl studying at a library shamelessly takes out a sanitary napkin from her bag. There is also a man who buys a pack of pads in a convenience store. The ad also shows women who felt premenstrual syndrome. This scene changes a lot from the representation of women in other ads. Lastly, a scene shows blood running on a woman’s legs in the shower. The ad ended with a slogan “Les règles c’est normal, les montrer devrait l’être aussi”. All these scenes contribute to demystifying menstruation and demonstrate that it is only a shameless and natural phenomenon.

This ad was shown only on the internet because the censure is less present there than on television. It allowed it to target a younger audience, like on Instagram where 71 % of its users are less than 35 years old. In the West, the medium age of TV viewers is 55 years old. So, we understand why some brands show their ads only on the internet. Nana tried to broadcast its ad on French television, but the ARPP (the Professional Regulatory Authority for Advertising) asked the brand to remove the blood running on the woman’s legs and the red liquid on the pad. In order to keep the entire ad, the brand decided to show it only on YouTube and on their social media accounts.

Unfortunately, two days after it was shown, the ad was removed from YouTube. We can nevertheless find it on Nana’s other social media accounts. Because beyond YouTube, these brands are also taking over platforms like Instagram.

Thanks to Instagram, these brands show their products and their ads to a more open minded and receptive public. For example, when Nana used a video of a tampon dropped into a glass filled with a red liquid to show its absorption efficiency.

Although Nana’s messaging is progressive, we can still see that the brand remains less open to diversity and inclusion, as it shows mostly white, skinny women who correspond to the Western standards of beauty. Removing the taboo of menstruation is a fight that must be led with conviction, but we must not forget that the fight is for the liberation of women of all kinds.

On the other hand, Tampax’s Instagram account shows more diversity and inclusion, by posting pictures of Black, Asian, White women, with curly or straight hair and round, thin and even muscular bodies.

In order to stay relevant, older brands such as Tampax, Nana or Kotex have to be sustainable and socially conscious.

As many controversies emerged, such as the composition of sanitary pads, the #MeToo and #BalanceTonPorc movements, or the expansion of female activism, new brands have appeared. Such brands know how to handle the codes of social media, take over platforms such as Instagram or Facebook, and remove taboos. These new brands offer many alternatives to traditional sanitary protections that are too polluting: washable pads, menstrual cups, absorbent underwear and menstrual sponges, the choice is wide.

As seen with the French brand ‘Dans Ma Culotte’ which even stated in the description of their Instagram account: “Breaking the taboos on periods”. On its Instagram account, ‘Dans Ma Culotte’ gives tips on how to use their products, health advice, offers contests, quotes or even share other feminist initiatives. These new types of brands absolutely do not go through television advertising because they target the Generation Z, the ultra-connected generation for whom television has no interest.

Another brand, Fempo proposes alternative protection focusing on comfort and sustainability. In addition, they have a liberated and positive messaging around menstruation. The strange blue liquid imagery is no longer accepted, but often poetic, cheerful, soft and flowery. Everywhere on their Instagram, they post tampons turned into flowers, metaphors of vulvas appear in fruits, pink glitter stains the bottom of sanitary napkins, and it’s a hit.

These visuals are successful and are shared far beyond the commercial sphere, they nowadays stand for women’s freedom. Menstruation has become fun.

Today, brands want to be close to their consumers. They don’t want to hear anymore the speeches of advertisers who don’t include all humans and who are not sincere about the composition of their products.

Many Instagram accounts have also been created to celebrate women, their period and their bodies, as follows:

- @rupikaur_ (1.7 million followers), lying on the side, with her leggings stained with blood, where she says: “I’m not going to apologise for displeasing a misogynistic society that tolerates seeing my body in my underwear but is not okay with showing a leak.”

- @pink_bits illustrates the things we try to hide about women like their body hair, cellulite and period.

- @chanmanheyyyy transforms sanitary napkins into canvas

- the feminist account @ca_va_saigner intends to revolutionise society. The collective invites all menstruating people to display their period without taboo and remove the idea of dirty period with the #FreePeriods.

With their thousands of followers, these accounts have become references, and as the magazine Cyclique writes, these activist influencers are now the target for feminine hygiene brands. As proof, recently, the illustrator and activist Florence Given signed a partnership with Always.

YouTube also has its influencers such as the French Romy, or the American Makeba, who talk a lot about menstruation, products, and give health advice.

Nowadays, we don’t need television to sell products and the new media platforms are becoming the new partners to these new engaged brands. As a consequence, the taboo affecting women’s health and freedom can be lifted thanks to all these Instagram social media accounts.

We can observe a huge contrast between television commercials and the advertising on YouTube or Instagram. Indeed, on the internet, censoring is softer than on television, and to not shock the television audience, which is more diverse, the commercials are more regulated. Older brands such as Tampax, Nana or Always, whose advertising is mostly through the very traditional channel of television, are now highly criticized by young audiences. Undoubtedly, television advertisements, which show fake blue blood, stereotype women behaviors, and only show one type of woman, are no longer up to date and the new feminist brands make it clear. In society, menstrual taboos have changed significantly. Taboos regarding menstruation disappear thanks to these new feminist brands taking over social networks.

Other forms of liberation on the subject of menstruation have appeared. Tchika magazine, a magazine for 7–12 year-old girls, wrote an informative article to answer questions young girls may have about their first period. It is necessary to educate young girls who, around that age, watch television and might get misinformed through their non-representative ads.

Even if social media is less taboo than television, they have to be careful not to make the subject of menstruation too light by having cute representations of blood (glitter instead of blood for example) because in that case, they are perpetuating the same taboo.