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Ads that I like #68


The best that I can say about this French advertisement for tampons is that it is, err, very French. The tagline reads: "I am like a fish in water", but I am not sure that this really helps all that much in getting the gist of the piece.

Now, you must believe me when I say that I’ve thought long and hard [oohh err missus!] about this particular product promotion, but admit that I am no closer at answering the riddle that might unlock this particular enigma than when I began, and figure that I shan’t locate that answer any time soon.

The most obvious answer harks back to grubby schoolboy locker room jokes, but to my knowledge – and I say this as someone who remains a grubby schoolboy at heart – grubby schoolboys do not represent a significant proportion of the market share of feminine hygiene products.

No, I figure that is women who buy tampons (see, all of that taxpayers’ money wasn’t wasted on my education). As it is women that buy the tampons, it must be women that the advertisement is seeking to influence. So now, my thinking is that I am not a woman, and cannot see what a woman can see!

So I put it to you, ladies of the world: what on Earth is going on in this ad? Would it provoke you into switching brands and purchasing said product? Is it aimed at a particular subset of French women (perhaps residing in the Loire-Atlantique region, with its own particular Gallic penchant for fresh fish? I am at a loss, but perhaps you are not.

I need help, I know that much.
UPDATE: Nathalie in the comments is indeed correct. Depressingly, this Tampax ad is not real. A bit of research reveals that it actually comes from a 1972 issue of a French satire magazine called Hara Kiri.

It's not nearly as funny now that it turns out that they were trying to be offensive!
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Comments

Debbie Courson Smith said…
I'm at a loss. I thought at first she was giving birth to a fish, ala, that old Monty Python movie...but then I don't know about the connection to the product. It's a stark contrast to U.S. ads, which focus on flowers and fresh breezes and puppies and kittens and rainbows....
8 December 2008 at 12:43
Ann said…
I have absolutely no idea. Personally I prefer the TV ad with the bloke pulling them apart and tossing them to the kitten to play with.
8 December 2008 at 14:21
USelaine said…
This is so very wrong. It cannot be an authentic ad. Methinks you've been hoodwinked.
8 December 2008 at 17:14
Nathalie H.D. said…
No no no no Kris.
I'm French, I'm familiar with French ads for tampons, I've seen countless, there's NO WAY this ad would have made it to the glossy magazines. This is a FRAUD. It's a photoshop joke.

French girls wouldn't even have thought of it as funny.

Where on earth did you find this???
8 December 2008 at 17:23
Anonymous said…
Good on you for doing that further research Kris. Now that makes sense!!! Hara Kiri is famous for its offensive (sometimes funny but not always) contents, that's completely their style!

It's a reference to the many ads where you see tampons being dipped into a fish bowl so you can see how they expand as they retain fluids.
8 December 2008 at 21:18
Kris McCracken said…
Diva, Ann, USelaine and most importantly Nathalie, thanks for the feedback. I was so very upset to hear that this was a phony.
12 December 2008 at 14:48
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