Stigma is still forcing some women to dodge these products… period

Maddie Brake was on a family holiday when she got her first period.

“Mum was busy doing other things … so Dad took to me the shops [to buy sanitary products], bless him, and tried his best,” she said.

Maddie Brake is among many young women who avoid period products whose advertising stigmatises menstruation.Credit: Photograph by Chris Hopkins

Now 25, the communications worker recalls that in his enthusiasm, her father managed to pick up a super-sized product – perhaps not ideal for a beginner. But it was his matter-of-fact approach to the onset of his daughters’ menstruation that Brake remembers.

“It was an open conversation,” Brake said, adding that their visit to the pads and tampons aisle lacked any sense of stigma or embarrassment.

This is something that research has found sanitary product advertisers should pay attention to.

Women are so turned off period product advertising that implies having one is somehow shameful they are turning away from brands using such language – “embarrassment happens, leaks shouldn’t” or “take it with you on the go and still be discreet about it”, a study published in the Journal of Business Research reveals.

Ads that leverage the idea of stigma around others knowing a woman has her period score far lower on “purchase intention, and attitude and self-brand connection” measures than those that normalise discussion, the Deakin University research found.

Realistic advertising – for example, those that show red fluid rather than old-school blue “blood” – is preferred.

Some consumers may “consciously rebel and deliberately reject the brand” if it makes them feel bad about themselves for menstruating, researcher Jayant Nasa and international collaborators found.

“Conventionally, periods were considered to be a hush-hush/taboo topic in many cultures and women felt a need to keep their menstruating status hidden from people around,” Nasa said.

“Over the last few years, the cultural discourse against these conventional norms has become very vocal and strong.

“The commonly used shame-inducing narrative in ads for sanitary products is not working well any more.”

The consumer preference for more authentic-feeling advertising comes just five years after an ad by Libra attracted hundreds of complaints when it depicted menstrual blood for the first time on Australian TV.

In 2019, after Libra’s Blood Normal campaign was shown during several top-rating TV shows, viewers complained about depiction of blood and water running down a woman’s leg, a teenager removing a pixelated pad and a hand pouring red “blood” into a pad.

In the same year, data published by Libra and Marie Claire found that 25 per cent of Australian women aged 18 to 24 were embarrassed when buying period products, 80 per cent still hid their periods and 70 per cent would rather fail a class than have peers know they were menstruating.

In the years since, though, women’s attitudes have transformed – forcing advertisers to keep up, says industry veteran Dee Madigan.

“Period-related advertising used to trade in shame,” Madigan said.

“Women have had a complete turnaround, to almost really being proud of it, and brands have leant into it. Brands know there is a bit of cachet now – it’ll be who can have the most blood.”

Madigan said campaigns such as Libra’s 1996 ad in which a woman appeared to mop up blood at a crime scene with a pad – it only got around restrictions by implying the liquid may have been spilled water from a vase – had helped change the depiction of menstrual issues.

Melbourne University associate professor and culture commentator Lauren Rosewarne said while most still wanted to keep their period private, “the 20th century techniques of shaming people into purchases no longer work – advertisers know this”.

“There has been a cultural decision made that how we feel about our periods isn’t going to be dictated by the cultural messages that periods are bad or disgusting or associated with uncleanliness,” she said.

But the change in tone, often seen in targeted social media ads for sanitary products, was strategic.

“This is about cultivating relationships that can be decades long with a consumer base,” Rosewarne said.

Brake said that while there is still a way to go in some families – not all brothers or dads are comfortable discussing menstruation – the barriers are falling, in part thanks to more enlightened marketing.

“Advertising can really break down some of those barriers, showing [menstruation] in a way that isn’t taboo or seen as gross so people that don’t get periods can understand,” Brake said.

And ads stuck in a stigmatised past? “Why would I support a brand that doesn’t take me as I am?” she asked.

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