Honest or just too real? Row over ad that breaks taboo

A SANITARY towel company has been praised for showing ‘real’ blood on an advert for the first time.

In the Bodyform advert, red liquid is poured from a test tube on to a towel to demonstrate absorbency.

Later in the video, blood runs down a woman’s leg while she is in the shower. Blue dye is typically used in other adverts.

The online advert is part of Bodyform’s ‘blood normal’ campaign, which aims to end the stigma around menstruation.

The video comes with the subtitle: ‘Contrary to popular belief, women don’t bleed blue liquid, they bleed blood. Periods are normal. Showing them should be too.’

It comes after the brand’s survey of 10,017 men and women found that 74 per cent of them want to see more realistic representation of periods.

The advert received a mix reaction. Danielle Louise, a software engineer, tweeted: ‘The new Bodyform advert is Praised: The Bodyform clip disgusting. No need to show menstrual blood to demonstrate absorbency. Some decorum please.’

But others were more positive. It was described as ‘groundbreaking’ by Cosmopolitan magazine.

And Emily Sykes tweeted: ‘How is the Bodyform advert controversial do non-menstruating people really think blue dye shoots out of us every month I’m not a fountain pen.’

It comes after a number of supermarkets started paying the cost of VAT on sanitary products to help women who are in financial difficulty. The have been calls for the Government to scrap VAT on all sanitary products for years. It has been described as an unfair ‘tampon tax’ on women as other essential medical items are tax exempt. The Government has lowered it to 5 per cent but said it could not go further because of EU rules.

Traci Baxter, marketing manager at Bodyform, said: ‘We know that the “period taboo” is damaging. It means people are more likely to struggle with the effects of period poverty, whilst others struggle with their mental health and wellbeing.

‘As a leader in feminine hygiene, we want to change this by challenging the taboo and ultimately removing the stigma, making it even easier for anyone to talk about periods, now and in the future.

‘This is exactly the reason why we launched #bloodnormal.

‘We believe that like any other taboo, the more people see it, the more normal the subject becomes.’ She added: ‘ We remain committed to showing periods in everyday life, truthfully and honestly – because we feel it’s the right thing to do.’