The Camp Gyno: “Like Santa for your vagina!”
30 July 2013
Nothing makes me feel older than to see a new commercial that blows away all the old tropes and offers up something completely different — and all I can think is, whaaaaaa? Remember those Volkswagon ads in the 90s, the ones with Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon”?
The Camp Gyno is an ad for a tampon subscription service called HelloFlo. I’m thinking about subscribing simply to thank them for this ad.
I think, finally, a real rain has come and washed all the blue liquid off the streets.
Thanks, JE, for this!
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30 July 2013 at 9:01 am
Wow! We just get used to ads for feminine hygiene and Tampons by adults, and now this? When I was a girl, we had to sneak using Tampons because our mothers didn’t want us up there. And- “friggen’?” I feel old- but I feel a little proud also.
30 July 2013 at 9:03 am
I had to watch it twice before I believed what I was seeing. It’s just so great…and that little girl is awesome.
30 July 2013 at 10:12 am
She is isn’t she? And Mail Order Tampons – with candy? Isn’t that incongruous.
30 July 2013 at 9:53 am
Sometimes things change for the better! I was so ashamed of my periods when I was a kid. If only I could have used them for increased acceptance – LOL! Thanks for sharing this. I loved it.
30 July 2013 at 10:03 am
I feel exactly the same way. And had the same experience of “womanhood” at the age of 13.
30 July 2013 at 10:00 am
“It’s like Santa for your vagina!” That line will be ringing through my head all day. In light of all the shaming going on regarding women’s bodies, this video creates a great counter-narrative. Thanks Didion!
30 July 2013 at 10:04 am
Is there a better line in the history of the universe than “it’s like Santa for your vagina”?
30 July 2013 at 12:16 pm
You mean that girls get to skip sanitary pads entirely, go straight to tampons? Oh, the horrors to be missed! Will there be pushback from parents, public moralists?
30 July 2013 at 12:20 pm
And don’t you love the image of little girls at camp, handing out tampons like party favors?
30 July 2013 at 1:23 pm
This made me gigglesnort. I love love love it. It’s just exactly what the menstrual discourse needs… a little less sanctity and a little more pragmatism. Because when you get right down to it, the vagina isn’t a pure, sacred space filled with pan flute music and the fluttering of angels’ wings; it’s a messy, fantastic danger zone meant for playing in and surfing in and yes, it routinely squirts blood like a ketchup bottle. Kind of. 😀 I sure wish we’d had mail-order tampons with candy when I was younger. That would have been amazing.
30 July 2013 at 4:01 pm
LOL! I guess we’ll know that women, their vaginas, and feminine products have arrived when they have this ad during the Super Bowl half time–aimed at sensitive Dad’s everywhere, of course. Ha!
P.S. However, I’m not keen on having a child say “friggin”–a euphemism for a vulgarity that in itself is one. That’s my “Aunt” Grati hat talking.
30 July 2013 at 6:30 pm
That’s so funny — you’re the second person to mention the “friggin,” which I didn’t even notice.
I also like the notion that this kind of ad might appear during the Super Bowl. Which reminds me, of course, of Gloria Steinem’s classic “If Men Could Menstruate” article from the 70s. Wouldn’t it be great if ads for women’s products were created in the same vein — rather than fomenting shame about bodies, they bragged and puffed about bodily functions?
30 July 2013 at 8:03 pm
Ha! I hadn’t read that Steinem essay before. Thanks for the link!
It would also be great if the feminine product ads seemed like they were created by a woman, rather than a man–the literalism about absorption rates and coverage always gives me a giggle. Not to mention the metaphors- like the tampon floating in water and it’s layers having opened and spread out like a “flower”. I mean really, do condom ads go into such detail about their features and benefits? Ha!
30 July 2013 at 8:04 pm
it’s = its
31 July 2013 at 9:05 am
No kidding. That’s what I love about the Camp Gyno ad: it’s like they took equal parts Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, My So-Called Life, and Third Rock From the Sun and said, “Screw all those blue liquid ads! Let’s make an ad we actually want to watch!”