Vaginas: Dirty as the word itself.
‘Intimate Hygiene’ Product Ad is Scared of the Word ‘Vagina’
Pop quiz: what does the PR team behind the UK-based FemFresh, a self-described "daily intimate wash," have in common with a fair amount of US politicians? Answer: an inability to spit out the word "vagina."
The feminine hygiene brand's new campaign, "Whatever you call it, Love it," launched on its Facebook page yesterday with this ad:
Mini, twinkle, hoo haa, flower, fancy, yoni,
lady garden...
Did you know that regular shower gels and soaps, if used on your privates, can strip it of its natural defences causing dryness and irritation?
With its pH-balanced formula specially developed for intimate skin, femfresh is the kindest way to care for your va jay jay, kitty, nooni, la la, froo froo!
It's as if Hello Kitty was dabbling in the douching business.
According to ZDNet, the brand also posted about keeping fresh at a music festival and included an image of an advertisement on a telephone box which proclaims ‘WooHoo for my Froo Froo.' Others say ‘I'm proud of my Pompom," and throughout the Facebook page, the words ‘flower', ‘mini', ‘muffin', ‘lady garden', ‘kitty', 'pompom', ‘twinkle', ‘noonoo' and ‘hoo haa' are also used in place of the v-word.
After commenters decided they'd had enough and started posting angry messages, FemFresh responded by saying:
Just a short note to tell all recent posters that we have seen your comments and we will be getting back to you.
Whilst we welcome debate, please can we ask that you don't post anything abusive or use bad language as this contravenes our policies and we will have to delete the posts. Thank you.
That did not go over so well. "Are you referencing the c-word when you say bad language?" one commenter wrote. "You mean you're censoring actual commonly-used words for vagina but it's fine to have baby-speak euphemisms instead? Sheeesh. This product is, I assume, for adults - so what's the problem with adults using adult language when talking about their adult genitals?"
In response, FemFresh seems to have deleted its Facebook page all together. Good lesson, guys: the best way to deal with both a PR fuck-up AND your genitalia is to deny that it exists at all!
(Katie M. Baker)
BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS!
They recently updated the advertisements on their webpage to include the word vagina (Source 2)
Sources: (Jezebel.com)
(Zdet.com)