I have never seen this advert on British TV. I sincerely doubt it was ever broadcast, not because of its insinsitivity toward trangender but because sanitary adverts tend to avoid controversy. This is simply that most women don't like open discussions of that type.

This is more the sort of advert that appears here.

Bodyform Advert

We get all sorts of ads here, but I doubt anyone would be game to put their company's name to that one.  You'd hear the screams of outrage all the way over in the UK.

Karen.

Found this one as well. Don't normally like Mr Bean, though a major admirer of Rowen Atkinson.

Mr Bean - Bodyform advert

Quote from: justmeinoz on August 10, 2011, 04:50:36 AM
Probably some ad executive's idea of getting transwomen involved.  But then they don't live on the same planet as the rest of us.  The toilet door sign was just plain offensive.

Karen.

That's when it sort of went over the top for me too. I understand the interpretation that this is almost a sad, "it could be alot worse, ladies", type ad for cis women. (that's still weird, imo, but I guess not as offensive) The bathroom door sealed the deal though.

The final door scene puts the nail in it. Insensitive is being polite... If I used half the adjectives that I want to describe the person who made this commercial, I would probably be banned.

I did some thinking about this ad and I've realized something rather important: it fails to reach cis-women on their terms.  Women who get periods in general have nothing to do with the challenges of trans-women.  Each subset has it's own set of problems neither of which either side can fully appreciate.

Conclusion: it's not a very good pad ad.

I was kinda stunned when I saw this..... hooly crap. I don't know what the f*** they were trying to do here... Trying to brig trans and drag issues into the mainstream, trying to tell female-born women to be grateful for it, trying to get rise out of their customers by using transwomen and drag queens as a punchline.

Either way. It left me with a pretty horrible feeling. I mean, somewhere in the back of my head I was thinking "Maaybe this isn't so bad", until the end when the washroom door slammed shut. Like they're insisting transwomen are trapped in that labelled room.

Welp. I'm not buying anything from Always.

Quote from: Ryan J on August 10, 2011, 11:26:55 PM
Either way. It left me with a pretty horrible feeling. I mean, somewhere in the back of my head I was thinking "Maaybe this isn't so bad", until the end when the washroom door slammed shut. Like they're insisting transwomen are trapped in that labelled room.

Agreed. I mean I can see that they were trying for a different an attention getting idea and I don't sense that they meant it offensively but either way it was pretty offensive and really pretty uncalled for, especially the ending. I'd say I won't buy from them but I never did even before, I always chose the cheap stuff instead

Is that for real, its not a joke or something? I can't imagine any company running something like that. Its bad.

  Looks like we have a consensus here on the 'gross'.  Any cis-women out there with comments?  I know that some of you transwomen are still married to one and they are also on this forum! 
  Joelene

After watching it, I thought about it. Then I watched it again and thought some more.  If an ad agent had shown me this I would have probably frown a shoe at them. I can't find a nice way of looking at it.

oh my god, I am one who it takes alot to actually offend. This ad was enough to irritate me. That was one of the most insensitive ads I have ever seen.

Quote from: SnailPace on August 09, 2011, 02:22:01 PM
What are your thoughts?

Didn't think I'd ever see that!  But don't include me in the group of people who wish they could have a period.  Then again, would I take that in trade for a natal female body and social acceptance?  Lemme think about it...

Quote from: Joelene9 on August 10, 2011, 11:57:14 PM
  Looks like we have a consensus here on the 'gross'.  Any cis-women out there with comments?  I know that some of you transwomen are still married to one and they are also on this forum! 
  Joelene

periods are gross and there's nothing good about them, as someone who does not want children at all i dnt really see the use for them at least as far as my body is concerned. Im 20 years old and ive had mine since i was 11 and at least in my opinion they get old after the first year or so

I've heard enough ciswomen whine about their periods to the point that I think I'm better off without one. Well unless I could get preggo...

I didn't really find it too offensive.

It clearly situates us as not "real" women and therefore beneath "real" women. This reifies the offensive notion that we are "men masquerading as women," especially the scene where the person with the shaved head takes off earrings. This is extremely harmful to our community as this notion is used to justify our exclusion from gendered spaces and to justify discrimination against us. The amputee analogy was spot on.

Quote from: valyn_faer on August 11, 2011, 09:15:24 AM
It clearly situates us as not "real" women and therefore beneath "real" women.

If you want to use the hierarchy angle, you could say transwomen are better than ciswomen because they aren't strapped down with days and even weeks per month with menstruation and PMS. 

I grew up in a house with five women, four sisters and my mom.  Back then no one spoke of things like this so male born people were kept pretty much in the dark.  All I knew was there were times when walking into the house was like walking into a war zone.  I thought they were, at times, nuts.  And while I longed to be a girl, I never wanted to be like my mom or sisters.  I have no problem with this life, outside the stigma crap.

Quote from: SnailPace on August 09, 2011, 02:22:01 PM
http://www.youtube.com/embed/l50l2IUENRk

I don't know if this has been posted here or not, but of course this ad made me think of you ladies.

This seems to be another case where the media has blurred drag and trans, and this commercial actually makes me sad to watch because of the obvious dysphoria these people are going through. But apparently people think this is funny?

What are your thoughts?

I wouldn't demonize the commercial so quickly. The only reason why I state this is because of the youtube videos following the end of the commercial. Did you see them? Everysingle one of them were done by amateur people who fit the commercial mold perfectly.

The homemade videos were "Azeri Transsexual show" (that looks just like one of the girls in the commercial, "Tahiri Crossdresser" (which is a crossdresser with a strong pantyhose fetish), "T-girl in a Bikini Mirror", "Tranvestite Fu**ing in bed" (pretty self explanatory), "->-bleeped-<-s", Qgirls-On the floor" (ts strippers), "->-bleeped-<- Dating Service" (i.e., escort service), "Echoes, ->-bleeped-<-s", "->-bleeped-<-s in Cinema" (which was the least offensive video).

It's no wonder Always made a video like this. There are tons of videos out there filmed by ->-bleeped-<-s, crossdressers, and transsexuals who feuled the inspiration of the commercial.

So my question I have is: Who do really point the finger at?

Quote from: Julie Marie on August 11, 2011, 01:52:38 PM
If you want to use the hierarchy angle, you could say transwomen are better than ciswomen because they aren't strapped down with days and even weeks per month with menstruation and PMS. 

Menstruation?  No.
PMS?  Yes.

Actually everyone has "that time of the month" (yes, even cis-males), it's unfortunately part of our biology.  There are also some HRT dosing schedules that actually cycle their meds to simulate a cis-female cycle - so anything's possible.

As for the advert, I thought it was pretty stupid.  Stupid enough that I can't believe someone went to college for four years, got a marketing degree and made that crap.  We've all seen clearly "home made" commericals on TV, you expect them to be lacking.  Someone actually got paid, probably A LOT of, money to come up with that crap.

Sure I was offended, because the commerical itself sucked, not becuase it appeared anti-trans.  It would have to not suck first before I felt any other offense over it.

Just plain idiotic, and not something you would expect in this day and age. It looks like it belongs in the 1960s or 1970s. Whoever made this advert should be ashamed of themselves, but I doubt that they are.