Finally, A Commercial That Actually Shows A Woman Having Her Period

One pad company seeks to change the way we portray and discuss menstruation

Since the dawn of television, commercials featuring advertisements for menstruation products have used blue goo to represent period blood. Because — gasp! — blood that comes from our reproductive organs is apparently too offensive to accurately portray.

Well, these Mad Men-era standards are getting the proper shakedown thanks to Bodyform’s new advertising and social media campaign.

Immediately, the commercial makes it clear that we’re saying goodbye to the blue goo forever.

The commercial also shows other normal things like a man buying pads at the grocery store and blood running down a woman’s leg in the shower.

It’s beyond time society recognizes menstruation for what it is: a normal, monthly, biological process that should be in no way offensive, shocking, or taboo to discuss. The fact that this campaign is revolutionary in 2017 truly speaks to the power of the patriarchy.

Bodyform, a UK company, agrees it’s time to normalize periods.”Periods are a natural part of life, so why are they rarely given any screen time?” their website states. “Surely hiding something so normal only adds to the shame and embarrassment many women feel when it comes to their periods. Let’s be open about it.”

The campaign is also gaining ground on Twitter, with many women sharing their collective relief and excitement.

There’s not a woman alive who hasn’t felt a sense of shame or embarrassment — or at the very least, self-consciousness — surrounding their periods. We’re always passing pads and tampons to each other like they’re top-secret, classified government intel that men who don’t experience periods can know exists. Young girls in school, women at work — feeling ostracized about our bodies doing what our bodies are meant to do is unacceptable.

It’s about time we all get nice and comfortable with periods so future generations don’t feel the same sense of shame about the natural, necessary process of menstruation.

“By bringing blood out of the dark, onto our screens and into the conversation we’re paving a positive path for women of the future,” Bodyform says. “After all, shouldn’t period-talk be as normal as periods themselves?”