I'm seeing another layer here. In each ad, the woman suffering from menstrual pain is paired with a man (presumably her husband). Invariably, the man is going about his normal activities, but is inconvenienced by the fact that his wife is not feeling herself. In the first image, who will look after the baby properly so that he can read his newspaper? In the last image, the man driving the car looks visibly uncomfortable with the person sitting next to him.

In the lower right corner of each ad displays the tagline for the product, "Get her back" - it doesn't say "Get yourself back" or "Get back to yourself". The tagline actually seems to be targeted at the men in these images who want their wives back to normal, not to women who may be suffering from physical pain associated with the menstrual cycle.

Isn't menstrual pain just as bad for some women, and the desire for relief from it just as valid even if you do not have a spouse? These ads are effectively saying to women, "You need to be yourself again so that you don't let down the people around you, particularly your husband." Why can't it say, "You're suffering from pain and discomfort, and this will help you feel better just for your own sake."?

A woman's outward appearance and her responsibility to her family, are more potent selling points than her comfort and feeling of well-being.

Also: FIRST!

It seems to me that the husband is a person of color too. It is significant, however, that the "scary" fighter is darker skinner than the husband.

these ads are dumb and meaningless. So men are supposed to feel "threatened" by a woman on her period? and we turn into the Hulk as soon as blood drips out of our vaginaes? Right. (rolls eyes)

and secondly, am I the only female who is SICK of hearing "you must be on your period" whenever I express my opinion or when I'm angry over something serious?

So I looked at this and my mind immediately went in the wrong direction. I thought they were BOTH supposed to be women. Oh, straight people. Oops...

While I do see all the stuff you're talking about, I have to disagree with some of the sentiment. Both sides of my family are Chilean, and you're not quite getting the Chilean view of race right. Chileans are quite classicist, and all sorts of other bad things, but their view on race is way more complicated than what the post says.

Even as someone that grew up in the culture, and has lived there several year; I can't come close to explaining it.

This also seems to be reaching for humor in the implied improbability that an aggressive-looking, tattooed man of color could possibly be seen pushing a baby stroller, or in bed with another man, or as part of a family unit with another man. So guess we're now also looking at a charge of homophobia and minority-perspective racism (as opposed to female-perspective racism).

I agree with Kate -- I immediately thought this ad was drawing on the assumed humor of two men in relationship roles.

I think it is quite funny (and tiresome) that people seem to be (again) supplanting their viewpoints on race upon an advertising campaign that is being run in a country that holds very different race and class points-of-view than what one encounters in the US... all without any mention of these differences in the piece (or even any mention that there might be some differences that readers should be aware of, other than the mention that the ads are from Chile).

Nice (continued) lack of multi-cultural sensitivity, SocImages. But hey, at least you aren't doing it with East Asian cultures this time.

(Yes, I've traveled to Chile several times, and I do agree with the statement made by 'keh' viz. Chilean racial and class politics being different than what one encounters in the US. Racial politics in Chile -- and many Latin American countries -- can be much more complicated than the "typical" black-vs-white that still dominates the US mindset.)

I disagree with the idea that men of color are meant specifically as a symbol of aggression.

Look at their professions instead of just taking into account their races. A boxer, a wrestler, and apparently a martial arts master of some sort? I don't specifically think that they're portraying all men of color as aggressive.

Dude! I wish I turned into a luchador for a few days each month. That'd be awesome!

...Not that I get these ads.

When I looked at these I was really confused... did not understand who was supposed to be the woman and what it had to do with periods. I'd only skimmed the commentary, and I had to read it again.

I'm surprised you didn't mention the homophobia.

Reminds me of the "You're not you when you're hungry" Snickers ads. (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLrsCnBvQFo)

And yeah, I'm also seeing the homophobia.

Alternate interpretation: The angry-looking person of colour is the husband, and the reason why he's angry is because he has to take over his wife's duties while she busies herself being a white guy with all its attendant privileges.

Um... Is it just me, or do each of these 'angry person' characters just look like different fighter stereotypes? I mean, you've got 1) your black boxer (think Mohammed Ali), then 2) you've got the mexican(?) wrestler and then 3) you have the korean kickboxer (think movies like Ong Bak). (looking at 3 again I'm not sure if he's actually asian, but I think the whole kickboxing thing still rings true).

I'm surprised they don't have a sumo in there as well.

So really, I don't think this is a whole 'black people are violent' thing (especially since the boxer is the only one I'd call 'black') but more of a stereotyping issue.

However really any of that is just about meaningless next to the real problem here - which is that this is an ad for a PMS pill that actually seems to be talking to the man rather than the woman. The tagline 'get her back' seems to really bring that to the fore, but I think you're also meant to really 'feel' for the man in each image. He is evidently the victim. Or something like that.

Actually, I've really got no idea what's going on with these ads. The fact that I'm having to sit here analysing them in order to actually understand them speaks volumes about how unsuccessful they actually are.

Hi all

As a Chilean gal I would like to give my perspective on the ads:

Chilean men have the complex they are not big enough, and any of those foreignexamples could easily "kick their asses". It is racist? Of course it is! but most of all is "machista" and it is quite successful here.

I doubt most South Americans would see this as North Americans do.

Quick story-
A few years ago I was talking to a woman, a very intelligent, articulate, caring educated woman.I mentioned both the nickname of my child and a nickname given to me by a loved one.She was horrified and began to lecture me about labeling people and the impact labels can have on people- how they may internalize the messages they are given.
I smiled and assured her it was ok, and explained that the nicknames were not at all negative (both were types of animals,nothing ugly or mean like "fatty" or "pig nose",for example) She pressed on until I finally became angry.

I told her that she knew little about me and even less about the person who used the nickname for me.No idea of this persons age, culture, values and for her to persist in telling me how I should interpret something or how my child would interpret it was quite simply patronizing and paternalistic.

Remember when analyzing images that to accurately determine intent you have to also understand how these images will be received by the intended audience.

I, and I am a woman of color who has lived in Latin America,see the ad primarily as an attempt to humorously illustrate that a crampy, miserable wife may temporarily become as combative as a professional martial artist/fighter.One mine things are ok, the next you roll over and see Mike Tyson in bed.

I do not know of any, noto say there arent any,white famous martial artists.If they are trying to make the point that she becomes a professional fighter, it makes sense that the models are representative of actual fighters. If they were all "white",there are plenty of people who would read this ad as yet another attempt to whitewash things and replace the mexican face of a luchador with a white man, the asian face of a muy thai fighter with a white man etc. and then attribute it to the white male fear of losing ground to non-white males in certain spheres.

Why do companies think this even advertises their product? From the image all I thought was, "Mmm... that's a hot guy! He's a good father, too!" Not: "When I get my period, I turn into an aggressive boxer."

ok women I am seeing some serious denial here. I actually never fight with my husband, and hardly ever get emotional or snappy at him, except GUESS WHEN---when I am PMSing. I can relate to these ads. I turn into a bitch. But maybe you're all bitches so often you don't notice the difference.
Try just accepting the fact that you DO get hormonal, you do tend to "fight" more, and it DOES make the people around you miserable. Or you can just keep being nasty all the time, expecting everyone to live with it, and getting your damn panties in a bunch over a "politically incorrect" advertisement.
Oh wait I know the problem--you all must be on your period right now

oh then you are just naturally bitchy lol...I don't recall mentioning you by name but ok

its horrible to b with GF or woman durinh her periods.. I can c her becoming most unwanted stuff at during her periods.. OOHH, periods are more painful to male counter part rather than female having periods.. She just swings her mood as per flow down there.. A big problem,, We can avoid this by having more and more children.. Thums up...