Kotex Decides Women's Blood Is Red, Not Blue
January 23 2020 - 12:58PM
Dow Jones News
By Sharon Terlep
Blood is no longer blue for Kotex.
A new ad campaign for the Kimberly-Clark Corp. brand is using a
realistic-looking red fluid, rather than the ubiquitous
antiseptic-blue liquid, to represent menstrual blood.
Kimberly-Clark's approach to marketing its U by Kotex products
on social media and streaming TV comes as more companies look to
tap into a movement to end the squeamishness and stigma around
womens' health and grooming needs, from body hair to bladder leaks
and menopause, that have been standard in such marketing for
decades.
"Blood is blood. This is something that every woman has
experienced, and there is nothing to hide," said Sarah Paulsen,
creative and design director for Kimberly-Clark's North American
feminine-care brands.
While some startups have used red liquid in feminine-care ads,
and market leader Procter & Gamble Co. used a pink fluid in
Facebook ads for its Always maxi pads this month, Kotex appears to
be the first major, established brand to show blood-red fluid on
its products in marketing. Always has showed a blood-like substance
on a girl's sock in a social media post that highlighted the
brand's donations of period products to girls unable to afford
them.
The liquid shown in the Kotex ad is the same synthetic material
that Kimberly-Clark uses to test and develop its feminine-care
products.
"It's unbelievable how some brands are still using blue liquid
to represent period blood...it's 2020," one commenter wrote
Wednesday in response to one of the Kotex ads on Instagram.
Kimberly-Clark and P&G are increasingly prioritizing
feminine-care products as they look to offset declining demand in
baby products due to a falling birth rate. Both companies have
invested in new products and marketing for adult underwear to
address bladder leaks, a problem predominantly facing women. And
they are looking to expand use of pads and tampons in developing
nations.
Last year, a TV commercial by Libra, an Australian feminine-care
company, depicted lifelike blood both on a pad and on women's
bodies. The ads prompted hundreds of viewer complaints to the
country's regulators, which ruled the ad didn't breach industry
standards.
Cora, a U.S. startup that sells pads, tampons and other
feminine-care products, started using red fluid in 2018. The ads
initially were flagged as overly graphic and removed from Facebook
and Instagram, Cora co-founder Molly Hayward said. The company
spoke with the platforms, she said, and the ads were quickly
restored.
"There is a greater appetite and readiness for honesty around
this," Ms. Hayward said.
Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 23, 2020 12:43 ET (17:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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