Why do girls still see blood in their pants and think they’re dying?

This is the question at the heart of a new campaign for Bodyform which challenges society to truly understand women+ bodies and better prepare them for a life inside their bodies. 

The campaign asks viewers: ‘What do you wish you had been told?’ reflecting the fact that over half (59%) of those who menstruate wish they’d been taught more about their periods and intimate health throughout their lives.

Despite the fact it is 2024 the fact remains that women+ are painfully unprepared for a life inside their bodies. Still suffocated by a society obsessed with what their bodies look like, yet deeply uncomfortable with what those bodies actually do.

Decades of silence over women’s bodies are brought to life in the epic campaign, which features a female-only Greek chorus-inspired orchestra responding to the ups, downs and pains of periods. The campaign is peppered with humour and leans heavily on collectivity and community. For while there is silence surrounding women+’s unique experiences of periods, the irony is many of those experiences are universal.

Covering first periods, surprising discharge smells and pain being dismissed by doctors, the integrated campaign developed by long-standing creative partner AMV BBDO aims to initiate an open conversation and education around menstrual health throughout women+’s lives. 

Directed by Netflix hit show Eric director, Lucy Forbes, through Smuggler, the film leans on comedy and hyperbolic mixed media to poke fun at the strange experience of inhabiting a body without the proper knowledge. Everything from first periods to mind-boggling tampon manuals form the epic story. 

Lauren Peters and Augustine Cerf, the creative team behind the work at AMV BBDO, explain that the film stages many topics not yet talked about, despite being common experiences like getting a period whilst breastfeeding, periods not coming back for months after stopping contraception, and large clots during perimenopause. As they explain: “All things that we’d have expected if only somebody had told us.”

They continue: “The 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”.

Changing the narrative

Bodyform has a long-term commitment to changing the narrative surrounding women’s bodies. The genre-defying Wombstories campaign marked a watershed in the depiction of women’s bodies in advertising.

At the heart of Bodyform’s creatively brave work has been a commitment to listening to and learning from the experiences of women+. 

Bodyform has been tracking the perception and prejudice of taboos globally through its Global V-Taboo Tracker since 2020. This year the study listened to 10,000 people across 10 countries, exploring not only all stages of menstrual life in relation to taboos but all dimensions of women+’s menstrual experiences. From attitudes to behaviours, knowledge, exposure and emotions, the result of this deeper listening has also informed the brand’s latest creative work.

The research reveals that women are still fundamentally disconnected from their own bodies. Only 1 in 5 of those who menstruate felt ‘calm and ready’ to start their first period. While 2 in 5 (42%) of those who menstruate feel the knowledge of their cycle has ‘lots of gaps’. A staggering 90% of those who menstruate know little to nothing about perimenopause.

The research also underlined the continuing gender health gap. Only 2 in 5 of those who menstruate have felt comfortable enough to talk to their healthcare professional about their menstrual health.   

Tanja Grubner, Global Marketing and Communications Director at Essity, explained: “We’ve been challenging toxic stereotypes around periods for almost a decade and while progress has been made, our mission is ongoing.”

She continued: “Our global taboo tracking helps us shine a light on the topics that matter to women+ across the globe. The results show that there is still a huge amount to do to set women+ up for a healthy and informed relationship with their bodies. We’re committed to closing the knowledge gap and continue to support better education for children through more open conversation, so girls+ can have a healthy relationship with periods and their bodies. Because it’s Never Just a Period.” 

AMV BBDO Chief Creative Officers Nadja Lossgott and Nicholas Hulley added: “’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. Because one thing is for sure. It’s never been ‘just’ a period. And it’s definitely not ‘just’ you.”

The global integrated campaign includes a diverse array of content, ranging from 6 seconds to 2 minutes. The campaign will run across digital, social platforms and TV. In total, over 100 unique assets have been crafted for the multi-channel push.

In a marketing ecosystem which continues to wax lyrical about the pitfalls of purpose marketing, the Bodyform/Libresse’s long-term commitment to telling the truth about women’s bodies tells a different story. The ground-breaking work’s effectiveness and emotional relevance underlines that investing in long-term change offers the opportunity for brand growth, while completely redefining category norms.

With campaigns such as Blood Normal (the first period ad to ever show actual red blood instead of blue liquid), Viva La Vulva, Womb Stories, Periodsomnia and now Never Just A Period the brand continues to raise the bar.

Incredible things happen when you tell the truth about women’s bodies, to learn more about AMV BBDO and Bodyform positively impacted culture click here.