Bodyform is issuing a rallying cry to women everywhere as asks why education about the menstrual cycle is still so poor, in a new spot entitled ‘Never Just A Period’, which aims to put an end to the silence.
Created by AMV BBDO and directed by director of hit Netflix show ‘Eric’ Lucy Forbes, the spot highlights the the disconcerting experience of trying to navigate issues including a first period, complicated tampon manuals and surprising discharge smells.
Spanning over two minutes and set to the sound of a Greek goddess-inspired female orchestra, it asks why there is such a gap between what girls are taught to expect about periods and what actually happens.
Covering issues which are typically brushed under the carpet – from different flow levels to the reality of smear tests and the eye-rolling experience of period pain being dismissed by (male) doctors, the campaign aims to initiate an open conversation and education around menstrual health.
“What do you wish you’d been told?” it asks, concluding the spot with the assertion that “It’s time for a world that actually understands our bodies”.
“’It’s never just a period’, is the emotional and creative ground zero of thousands and thousands of years of dissonance between what women+ are told about their periods and what they actually experience,” said AMV BBDO chief creative officers Nadja Lossgot and Nicholas Hulley.
“Because one thing is for sure. It’s never been ‘just’ a period. And it’s definitely not ‘just’ you.”
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The ad will also be supported by a set of 100 further assets across digital, social platforms and TV, as well as a set of content from six seconds to two minutes.
In creating the spot, Bodyform gathered global data about people’s experiences in relation to taboos since 2020 – the data from 10,000 people across 10 countries revealed that more than half of those who menstruate wish they knew more about their periods and intimate health.
Only one in five said they felt ‘calm and ready’ ahead of starting their first period, and 90% of those who menstruate said they know little to nothing about the perimenopause.
A Bodyform ad in 2022 was revealed as the most complained about by the ASA after it showed bloody sheets.
“We’ve been challenging toxic stereotypes around periods for almost a decade and while progress has been made, our mission is on-going,” said Bodyform owner Essity’s global marketing and communications director Tanja Grubner.
She added that Bodyform’s “taboo tracking” helps “shine a light” on topics that matter to women across the globe, but there was “a huge amount to do” to tackle stigma.
The AMV BBDO creative team behind the work Lauren Peters and Augustine Cerf said: “The film stages many not talked about, yet not uncommon experiences, like getting a period while breastfeeding, periods not coming back for months after stopping contraception, and large clots during perimenopause – all things that we’d have expected if only somebody had told us.
“The Bodyform campaign plays its small part in representing these experiences while also touching on the big systemic and societal issues which stand between women+ and better knowledge about their own bodies.
“Whether it’s pain being minimised and dismissed in medical contexts and being told it’s ‘just a period’, when it’s always, always so much more”.
