Content advisory: Discussion of menstruation, its relationship to gender identity, exploitative uses of trans people in marketing, and products related to menstrual hygiene.
Always, the sanitary towel people, have created a video advertisement which has left me cold. I don’t know where they got the idea of selling their pads through the medium of transphobia, but several people on twitter and in the comments have already expressed their intention to boycott.
The full article is at the link above, which includes a video of the offending commercial. It includes a lot of traumatic, possibly triggering imagery related to misgendering of trans women and the dysphoria many of them experience as a means to sell their menstrual products, complete with what reads as an attempt to shame people who menstruate who may experience pain or dysphoria related to their menstruation into “enjoying” their period based on the experiences of trans women.
If you decide to go looking for an alternative to Always and their exploitative ways, I recommend looking into cloth pads and/or menstrual cups, which are reusable and therefore slightly more environmentally friendly. Menstrual cups also have beneficial side effects. For some people they can reduce cramps and associated discomfort. They’re slightly more expensive up front, but when you realize that you’re only paying for it once instead of on a regular basis, you actually come out saving quite a bit.
(Source: onlytowardschaos)
