Menstruation and cycling - commercials and the history: Tampax Radiant Campaign
2018 Tampax TV commercial (uploaded by Tanya Jade, 23rd April 2018.)
Recently I bumped into this commercial - viral on Youtube - although it's already out for years, obviously using the nowadays trending cyclist urban persona model, reaching out to city girls and female young adults across the Western Hemisphere and beyond... Tampax in fact has a long history (over 80 years!) and didn't start emphesizing women's comfort during cycling / motorcycling / diving, etc. on certain days of the month just now. The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health (http://mum.org/) gave a few clues as well.
The Work That We Do Is Our Art / July 21, 2012
I love this series of ads by Tampax. I do. They illustrate what Mitch Joel, of Six Degrees of Separation talks about in a recent blog called "The Work We Do Is Our Art" by showcasing a series of talented young women with fascinating careers showing off their work. I know that the Tampax organization didn't set out to raise our awareness of the bicycle as a hip urban transit tool, but guess what? They are. This ad is being seen by hundreds of thousands of readers, and perhaps most importantly, young female readers making decisions about how they're going to move forward and live their lives.
For more: https://www.pedallove.org/why-storytelling-matters-blog/tag/Tampax+Radiant+campaign
You will also find data here:
Cycling with your period By Jessica Strange / Friday, 19 July 2019
Did you know cycling can actually help ease period pain? Mountain biker Jessica Strange explains how having a period once a month affects a woman's body and talks to doctors for advice.
Full article: https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/cycling-your-period
Going with the Flow: How to Manage Your Period on a Ride By selene yeager / Mar 24, 2016
I’ve had my period during more big cycling events than I can count. Probably the biggest was Ironman Louisville in Kentucky. I had been rigorously training for the better part of a year. Then, as the event neared, I got bloated and moody and started having GI issues. Layer that with how cranky you also get during a tapering-off week before a major race and, well, it wasn’t pretty. So I was oddly relieved when my period started the day before the race: All the PMS stuff was out of the way and all I had to deal with was the bleeding.
Full article: https://www.bicycling.com/rides/a20019346/going-with-the-flow-how-to-manage-your-period-on-a-ride/
Enjoy reading yourself, I'll mostly post the visuals here regarding TAMPAX.
Picture sources: www.dsreps.com, elsalvador.desertcart.com, www.mum.org, www.pedallove.org, www.flickr.com
Comments
In contrast an add from the early days of the firm (1930s):