Alice O-McK. sent in an example of Kotex’s new marketing strategy: mocking tampon commercials.
I agree with Alice that this commercial is pretty fantastic. It exposes the traditional tampon commercial as a social construct, a narrative, almost a genre in itself, and a manipulative one at that. This is something that sociologists love to point out.
It works on the same level as the now impossibly famous Old Spice Guy:
Let’s not forget, however, that as truly hilarious and inventive as the Old Spice Guy commercials are, their hyperviral popularity was the best thing that ever happened to Old Spice. Likewise, as insightful as this Kotex campaign is, in the end the main goal is to sell you tampons (Alice ran right out and bought some).
We may love them, but remember: every time we forget that we’re watching a commercial, an ad exec gets his wings.
—————————
Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.
