Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Playtex Sport

I first saw this ad on TV the other day and thought it was for a deodorant or sports drink at first, or maybe a sneaker. Imagine my surprise when it was for the first ever "sport-grade" tampon. I'm not the only one either: Seth Stevenson at Slate jotted down his opinions here, and largely, I agree with him. It's nice to see a new take on tampons: I'll admit that commercials featuring embarrassing mishaps with highschoolers give me the willies. This is much more empowering and positive. (And at the same time, not condescending like Always' "Have a Happy Period" bullshit.)

At the same time though, the website is still pretty embarrassing. Try opening it at work and you'll see what I mean.

Both the Playtex site and Slate's site has the commercial (too awkward to refer to it as a spot!). I'd go for Slate's site simply because it's not as bright pink and attention-attracting. I mean, isn't the whole point of a good tampon discretion?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't konw what it is, but the picture of the soccer player on that website makes me laugh every time it comes up...something about her facial expression...I think I would best describe it as a combination of proud that she's making such an awesome kick with fear of the impending doom of trying to land that thing...

CorinneKay44 said...

I personally don't like the commericial that well. While it is empowering to women who play sports, it doesn't allow a message for all women. It send a message that you must play sports to be comfortable with your period.