Advertising again.
This week a new spot went viral among women and girls; as of
this writing the YouTube version has had more than five million views, suggesting that we
are on to something important.
The ad is called “Camp Gyno,” and it is
from a new company called Helloflo (www.helloflo.com).
This is a company apparently aspiring to create a new category: menstruation management.
A subscription is purchased; Helloflo sends what we used to call “sanitary
products,” plus candy, on a schedule specified by the user.
I have no opinion about the value proposition of the
product, or even the concept of the company. I assume that they did some
research and discovered a niche of women who manage this fairly predictable
human function week by week, and I admire the entrepreneurial spirit.
But the ad itself caught me off guard, prompting me to
wonder if I have completely lost touch. It features a lonely young girl who gets her
first period at camp, and somehow leverages this occasion into a position of
power over her “fellow” campers. She dispenses tampons and lectures. Frankly,
she doesn’t seem to be very nice in the process.
Then, suddenly, her power is dissipated … by Helloflo. The other
girls start receiving packages of product in the mail, and the princess of gyno
is reduced once more to a mere mortal.
I understand that on some level this is funny, or at least
entertaining. Again, I assume that it was tested with the target audience
(adolescent girls) and that it tested well.
As someone a bit beyond her
adolescent years, I am interested in how the ad productizes a human
function—commercializes it. This is of course no more or less a problem than
the commercialization of erectile dysfunction … and there’s no question that
using the media to increase awareness of this condition and a potential
solution to it has changed some people’s lives.
But about this topic, presented in this ad, I have questions.
A product is supposed to provide a benefit, and the marketing of it is
supposed to showcase the benefit. For me, the idea that the onset of menses
somehow confers control over others feels somewhat strange. Status? No
question. But power?
More to the point, the ad doesn’t exactly position the benefits of
Helloflo services—like convenience, privacy and personalization; i.e., (per
their website) care and appreciation for the sensitivity of the purchase. Instead,
the ad makes a strange control freak of a girl the problem we’re solving. Boxes
of products mailed, with candy, on a schedule, neutralize her power; she
pouts and everyone else lives happily ever after.
If you search for more information about this ad you will see that it
has audaciously used language as yet unheard of in its domain. For better or
worse, the ad speaks to girls in their language. I suggest better.
But aside from its entertainment value, is "Camp Gyno" sending the message we want our girls to hear?
