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BBDO Malaysia mocks the ‘false reality’ of female hygiene ads with Libresse period campaign

Feminine hygiene company Libresse has released a tongue-in-cheek campaign  mocking the ‘happy’ female stereotypes often seen in sanitary towel advertisements.

The brand teamed up with BBDO Malaysia to create a 90-second online film that pokes fun at common tropes, such as women wearing unstained white trousers and rolling around on their beds.

The video forms part of a long-term campaign aimed at promoting an honest and open discussion about periods.

Speaking to Mumbrella Asia about the concept, BBDO Malaysia’s executive creative director VJ Anand said: “The campaign came together following a workshop we did with Libresse, where we watched all the previous sanitary towels commercials and everyone came to the same conclusion that they all sounded the same.

“We realised that they are all selling a false reality: the women are always really happy and they are wearing white trousers – and by the end of the workshop, all the women were making fun of the ads.

“So we decided that to stand out from this, we had to be bold and we had to be honest about the message these ads were selling and the reality of having a period.”

Anand said that the Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui’s recent comments on how her performance was affected by her period was partly an inspiration for the campaign.

He said: “Her honesty was applauded by many because talking about periods is something people still shy away from.

“And we feel it is time to address the elephant in the room. We now have a lot of ideas on how to extend this campaign to get people talking honestly about periods, and not just the women.”

The ad was released on Facebook and YouTube last week, and will be followed up by on-the-ground activations in Malaysia.

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