Bodyform advert hailed for tackling menstruation taboos, endometriosis, infertility and miscarriage

‘Makes you proud to be a woman,’ writes Twitter user

Olivia Petter
Friday 03 July 2020 05:16 EDT
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Bodyform's new advert breaks period advertising taboos

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Bodyform has been hailed for its latest advertising campaign, which celebrates the female body in all its messy glory.

The feminine hygiene brand launched its Womb Stories campaign earlier this week with a three-minute video that depicts women having a range of bodily experiences, including menstruating, miscarriage, and menopause.

The campaign is designed to tackle the culture of silence attached to women’s sexual health.

The video has been praised for its realistic and emotional scenes, which cover everything from experiencing period pain to orgasms.

“This should be shown during sex ed about periods,” said one viewer on Twitter.

Another added that the video “makes you proud to be a woman” while another wrote that they had “never felt so seen”.

Bodyform launched the campaign alongside research which found that two thirds (68 per cent) of women who experienced miscarriage, endometriosis, fertility issues and menopause said that being open with family and friends helped them cope.

However, the same research found that one in five (21 per cent) of women feel society wants them to keep silent about their experiences and nearly half (44 per cent) of women felt staying silent about their issues damaged their mental health.

“This leads to a damaging silence around a range of difficult and sensitive issues that women face every day,” Bodyform states in a press release.

“The physical concern may be treated, but the emotional dimension is often left unheard and overlooked.”

Nicola Coronado UK and Ireland consumer marketing director at Bodyform, commented: “With #wombstories we are starting a movement.

“We want to boldly go where no other brand has been before; inside women’s bodies and emotions to truly represent their sensations and feelings that we believe are not only invisible but ignored, overlooked or denied. #wombstories reveals the narrative inside and out and we hope to put these topics on the table for all to talk about.”

Bodyform is known for its groundbreaking advertisement campaigns, having famously tackled the stigma around showing period blood in adverts, which was traditionally always blue.

With the company’s #BloodNormal campaign in 2017, Bodyform was the first brand to show red period blood in an advertisement.

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