Ads for Period Underwear Might Be Too Lewd for the NYC Subway

[Liberal_in_LA]

The ads that plaster New York City’s subway system have shown women in the throes of passion, showing off most of their breasts, and wearing just a skimpy bikini—or nothing at all. Can’t they show a woman in a full shirt and modest underwear?

Not if the ad includes the word period. THINX, a recently launched company that makes underwear built to absorb period blood, has been trying to launch a subway ad campaign for the past month. Late last week, Outfront Media, the company that sells the subway’s ad space, sent back THINX’s designs, which feature women in nonsexualized poses sporting full-coverage underwear, tank tops, and turtlenecks.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has neither approved nor rejected the ads yet, but Outfront Media has expressed concern about the ads’ content. In an email on Monday, an Outfront representative told THINX CEO Miki Agrawal that the ads with models “seem to have a bit too much skin.” And the ones depicting a peeled half-grapefruit or an egg out of its shell? “Regardless of the context,” Outfront wrote, they “[seem] inappropriate.” Whole grapefruits, it seems, can be employed as sexual innuendo, as they were in this subway ad for breast augmentation. Just don’t slice those grapefruits in half!

agrawal told me she suspects that the double standard might have something to do with the fact that all of Outfront’s sales representatives and five of seven members of its leadership team are men. She says an Outfront rep told THINX’s marketing director that a silhouette of women’s underwear would be better than putting the underwear on models. When she protested what she perceived as Outfront’s hypocrisy, he told her not to make it a “women’s issue.”

--!!!

Most of the many ads that have plastered women in various states of undress on subway walls have been designed from the perspective of how others (read: heterosexual men) see women. The THINX ads address how women see and take care of themselves. “You don’t want to talk about how women’s bodies actually work, but you want to doctor the way a woman feels about her body?” asked Agrawal, comparing THINX’s designs to the breast-augmentation ads.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2015/10/21/ads_for_thinx_period_underwear_might_be_too_lewd_for_the_subway.html

[haikugal]

1. That's amazing..

What year is it? Truly perverted.

[uppityperson]

2. Sex sells ads, but not menstruation. Here a couple more links, looks neat

I've not heard of these, at $30 a pair they aren't cheap but how wonderful if they work. For those who find ads with bossoms heaving and sexual inuendoes abounding but the idea of "what do we tell the children" or "ewww", get over it and welcome to the real world.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/sarahburton/i-reached-menstrual-zen#.kj2ymyPKJ

http://www.shethinx.com/pages/how-it-works

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

7. Hmm, if diaper ads were done the same way

I wonder what the equivalent images would be for the runny dripping egg and the grapefruit?

People don't seem to have any problem with tampon or pantyliner ads that have blue liquids poured onto or in them. I've not seen any squeamishness about ads featuring women diving into pools while wearing tampons.

[PatrickforO]

3. So, how is it that women's underwear is NOT

a women's issue???

Just wondering, because it seems like a women's issue to me.

[TexasTowelie]

4. When a guy is wearing it?

[smirkymonkey]

5. I guess when men run the marketing team.

[Warren DeMontague]

6. I have trouble believing the most pressing problem on the NYC subway system is 'offensive' ads.

Some people just have way too much time on their hands.

[LuvNewcastle]

8. They shouldn't use the "p" word.

Even jaded NYC subway riders are too delicate to hear or read the "p" word. It should only be spoken between women in hushed tones. If a man hears a woman say the "p" word, she should be forced to sew a big red "P" on all her clothing, and she should be shunned.

[Vinca]

9. Maybe I'm a little dim this morning, but I don't get it.

Why is this underwear supposed to be for menstruating women? Just because it's black? That's one stupid advertising campaign.

[LuvNewcastle]

10. That's a good point.

I didn't really think about it. I'm gay, and that sort of thing just doesn't cross my mind all that often.

[Phentex]

12. No, they absorb fluid unlike regular underwear...

they eliminate the need for a pad so you don't have to worry about staining your clothes. It's actually a very good idea in spite of the stupid marketing.

[BlueJazz]

11. I'd certainly have women on my advertising team. You can't make all ads about things you...

...don't have experience with...or so it seems to me ??

[snooper2]

13. they don't come in white?

[AwakeAtLast]

14. And Viagra ads everywhere.......n/t