Even Companies That Sell Tampons Are Run By Men

As Appeared In Huffington Post

Most women would rather not discuss the intricacies of their period with a man. Most men seem fine with that.

Yet, until just five years ago, it was up to a largely male-led team to figure out how to market tampons, maxi-pads and other feminine products at Kimberly-Clark, the company behind Kotex, Huggies and Kleenex.

That translated into ads featuring blue liquids dumped on sanitary napkins, and portraying ecstatic women clad in all-white dancing and frolicking, apparently while menstruating. That’s a scenario approximately no woman has ever related to. A compilation of awkward images from vintage Kotex commercials. The company recently poked fun at its old advertising tactics in a new “U By Kotex” campaign. Story continues after the photos.

The absurdity of the situation came to light about five years ago at Kimberly-Clark, when CEO Tom Falk brought the male executive in charge of Kotex to present a marketing strategy for the more than 90-year-old brand to the company’s board of directors

After the presentation, some board members politely asked Falk: “Don’t you think you can get a female to present the strategy to us?”   (read more)