Spiked: Corked

On the bus home the other day, I relaxed my mind by browsing through "Friday" from 20 Minuten. So I learned that shoe designer Walter Steiger is being honored with an award from the Federal Office of Culture, that badges on denim jackets are (back) in and that coffee wakes us up. Nice, next page. Aha, models Nadine Strittmatter and Fabian Pfenninger present the latest Versace for H&M collection further back in the magazine. My gaze wanders further. And then, on the right-hand page, in the most prominent position, so to speak, she smiles at me: The one that is "as flexible as my style". The one that fits into any pair of panties thanks to its soft, foldable sides, ensuring that I can "make the most of every day". Wow, pretty high standards for a panty liner. The marketing strategists at Johnson & Johnson have included a sample so that the "flexiform" from the Carefree family can prove its worth. In my opinion, this deserves another "wow". After all, advertising feminine hygiene products is still like walking through a minefield.

Or would it be better to say, again? It seems that in the early days of panty liners and tampons, which hit the shelves with the wave of the sexual revolution in the 1970s, everyone involved was a little more relaxed about the subject. In the 1980s, for example, people dared to appear in advertisements (see Vongestern.com) to call a spade a spade. In 1983, four snappy aerobics queens announced that "the Tampax application sleeve is much more hygienic than a finger". Johnson & Johnson, another distributor of the "o.b." brand, praised the advantages of the product in its 1985 advertisement, claiming, among other things, that the tampon was worn in a place where it could not be felt, "in the middle of the vagina, where there are hardly any sensory nerves". For its part, Carefree - incidentally one of the very first panty liners - uses the example of the fictitious Linda Vogt to discuss the topic of "days between periods". The text of the advertisement explains that many girls "have slight secretions on the days between their periods". I admit, "secretions" is not exactly a successful description of discharge, as "secretions" are called in the medical chargon. But at least it makes it clear that women don't just stick panty liners and the like in their underwear because they like their scent so much. But this is exactly the image that advertising conveys to women today. The creeping taboo can be beautifully illustrated by Carefree's slogans: "The underwear protection for every day" was still the slogan in 1985.

Four years later, they claimed to be emancipated: "Women's prerogative." (Editor's note: Are there men who want to dispute women's prerogative to use panty liners? Please let us know!) And then, at some point in the following ten years, things changed: "Feel free" followed in 1999, "Feel fresh. Feel free. Carefree." - I can hardly resist a wow for the original rhyme -, 2007 "Experience every day fresh!" and 2010 "The whole day as fresh as the morning".

Let us now assume that manufacturers of feminine hygiene products analyze their target group in detail and know how to address them with a high impact. This would mean that the female sex's relationship with panty liners and the like is just as messed up as the advertising messages intended to appeal to them. All the more astonishing that a company advertises in a trendy magazine that appeals to both men and women, and then with a sample. I looked around on the bus that Friday to see if any of the ladies present might be carefully removing their copy from the page and stealthily slipping it into their handbag. But I couldn't see anything of the sort. Perhaps that "Friday" issue will also be found in many places at the next waste paper collections, because the majority of girls and women have opted for the discreet way of checking out the advertising promise of "flexiform". To be honest, this would have been my plan too. Unfortunately, in my absent-mindedness, I wedged my copy of the magazine between the bus seat and the wall, as I always do with free newspapers.