Ad Campaign Values vs Commercial Interests: Bodyform’s #wombstories

Bodyform’s 2020 ad campaign ‘#wombstories’ with AMV BBDO was a colourful, emotional, and vibrant take on the rites of passage that many, but not all, women become familiar with in the female experience – even the dads cried watching. The campaign consisted of a 3-minute Youtube video, a forum of shared ‘inspirational stories’ regarding womanhood on Bodyform’s website, and the #painstories e-book devised to spread awareness of endometriosis – a condition where too often ignorance leads to misdiagnosis, isolation, and depression.

Bodyform have had numerous successful ad campaigns with similar feminist interests in the past, including Viva La Vulva and Blood Normal which aimed to tackle the stigma around menstruation and portray the misinformation around periods.

So how does the #wombstories campaign compare to Bodyform’s commercial interests?

To want or not to want children

Firstly, the campaign features examples of ‘popular feminism’ to depict a supportive notion towards women’s decisions over childbearing. Directed by Nisha Ganatra, the featured video uses animation and illustration to portray a fork in the journey a vulva-shaped female character encounters – the decision of wanting or not wanting children. This relates to the decision women may visit and revisit throughout their lives.

The particular use of the female illustration who captains her journey clearly depicts that this advertisement is intended for a female viewer. It encourages the consumer when viewing this to see herself making this decision, and further portrays how this campaign is for women. Bodyform clearly wants their target audience to know they support women’s choice to have (or not have) children.

There are many societal pressures for women to have children, and stigma surrounding those who choose not to. Bodyform’s use of the celebration of a woman getting her period cleverly links back to their period products while not shying away from imagery of blood, aiming to provide a positive association with menstruation.

It would be incredibly important for Bodyform to encourage a period-positive image to the consumer for women or those who experience periods to trust this brand for a gentle and kind approach to periods – subsequently encouraging use and purchase of their products. The economic convenience of being viewed as a brand that ‘revolutionised normality’ of menstruation.

Flowers and monsters: loving and hating womanhood

As an attempt to create an ‘ode to the female anatomy’, #wombstories portrays the ‘garden of Eden’ that the female anatomy can be, as well as the toll that Mother Nature can take on a female. This aim to demonstrate Bodyform’s understanding of women could encourage the consumer to see the brand as inherently female; this advert decisively uses pink and purple imagery to remain heavily effeminate. However, Bodyform taking the understanding and depiction of femininity past the point of pink imagery to blood and pain is welcomed by female consumers.

“Finally, a reflection of the celebration and commiseration and the volumes of absolute ridiculous s*** we have to go through”

Janna Bartlett

This intentional creation of support and ‘togetherness’ between the campaign and consumer aids the method of mirroring the consumers interests to create trust in the brand.

Emotive empowerment

Bodyform’s main page to #wombstories includes the reference to the sensational This Girl Can, a campaign that began in 2015, relating to encouraging women and girls to be active regardless of ‘shape, size and ability’. This led to This Girl Can becoming a buzz phrase and relating to a general support for female empowerment.

Bodyform is intending to join empowerment of women, except while This Girl Can was created to ‘inspire women to be more physically active’, Bodyform used the same vein to drive consumers to their products.