See a 3-D
Dr White's ad, an ad contest for Dr
White's and wearing Dr White's with a thong.
More humor in advertising:
Simplicity Freedom ads (British): September 1990 - May 1991 - October 1991 -
Freedom Confetti (French): October 1990 - box of Freedom
tampons (German): 1991
And here's a contest to make an
ad for Dr White's pads.
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Dr White's menstrual towels (pads,
napkins)
Ad with menstruating
man in women's underwear
1985, United Kingdom
Britain has produced the funniest ads
I've seen for menstrual products.
It hasn't always been that way (examples).
Forgetting the head and hairy
legs, look
at the ad below and
compare with this photo
("Dara
Torres and her abs.") of
American Olympic swimmer Dara
Torres. What's the difference?
The point is that this ad today
would not
shake people as much as
it probably did in 1985 when it
appeared. Dara Torres actually beats the
cross-dressing guy in tradionally
masculine muscularity. (And she's
in her forties.)
The scan is not clear so let me
help you: the white words
refer to parts of the body that
often bother women before or
during menstruation. The man is
complaining about the same things
a woman would - because he's
menstruating.
That's the point - as it was
with Gloria Steinem's famous and
funny "If
Men Could Menstruate" that
appeared in the October 1978 issue
of Ms. magazine, about five years
before the ad. Women have probably
complained about menstruation and
its side effects since homo
became sapiens - and justifiably.
One thing I've learned since I
started this museum is that men
have an enjoyable ride on the
reproductive trip compared to the
massively
more complex experience women
have.
I wonder how much this ad owes
to Ms. Steinem's essay.
The little boxes at the corners
are moons
in different phases (also in this ad and others).
This is a very
rare reference to the moon in
mainstream menstrual advertising,
the moon, of course, being
sometimes associated with
menstruation because of its
"cycle" (see?), etc. Referring to
the moon is much more common in
advertising for washable pads,
etc.
See a 3-D
two-page Dr. White's ad.
And here's a contest
to make an ad for Dr White's pads.
(See a non-menstrual funny ad
on the back of the left page,
just to see how much humor there
is in some British
publications.)
I thank
the frequent Dutch contributor
for these scans!
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Below:
The two-page ad from Company
magazine.
The contributor did not say how
large the pages are.
The scans chopped off some of the
sides and text
and fuzzied up the top of the
left-hand page. But
the gist of the ad remains, even
the moons.
Enlargements
below and here (right-hand
page).
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Below:
I can't read the text at top but
the rest reads:
Don't expect me to shave with
these spots all over my chin.
If you had swollen [?] breasts
you would [?] want [?] to be
cuddled.
I can't possibly clean the car
with this nagging backache.
My stomach aches and it's so
bloated my boss asked if I was
pregnant.
I'll never climb the ladder of
success with legs this wobbly
once a month.
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NEXT: facing page
of the ad - See a 3-D
Dr White's ad and an ad contest for Dr
White's.
More humor in
advertising: Simplicity Freedom ads
(British): September
1990 - May 1991
- October 1991 -
Freedom Confetti (French): October 1990 - box of Freedom
tampons (German): 1991
© 2008 Harry Finley. It is illegal to
reproduce or distribute any of
the work on this Web site in any manner or
medium without written
permission of the author. Please report
suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org
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