This New Advertising Campaign For Feminine Hygiene Products Is Being Praised For Working To Destigmatise Periods

Whilst adverts for feminine hygiene products in magazines or on TV are exceptionally common, blood - or the idea of it - has been a no-show. One would say it's a bit odd to advertise products for women during their periods that don't actually feature blood, but it all revolves around the stigma that surrounds period and, subsequently, period blood. A bold yet needed move has been made by Bodyform in their latest video campaign, #bloodnormal, which features sanitary pads being stained by a red liquid, rather than the blue liquid that we've got used to seeing in advertising. This makes Bodyform the first brand in the UK to feature red 'blood' in advertising campaigns.

The campaign was created after parent company, Essity, said that a survey of their's had shown that 64% of people wanted adverts to show more honest and realistic representation when it comes to periods. In addition to the red liquid, the main video campaign also shows a man buying sanitary towels and a woman stood in the shower with blood running down her thigh. 

Bodyform has said it wants to 'challenge the stigma around periods' and 'call time' on the taboos surrounding them. Their campaign's slogan - 'periods are normal, showing them should be too' -reflects their aim to make realistic representations of periods more visible in the mainstream, and they're working alongside people the world over to make it happen.

Tanha Grubna of Essity said: “We believe that like any other taboo, the more people see it, the more normal the subject becomes.”

Even with periods, life goes on, so why should the conversation around periods be any less normalised?