Just a few short months ago, Naama Bloom was operating her small business from her Brooklyn apartment. She had the concept: her company, HelloFlo, delivers monthly tampons and pads to subscribers. Meant in part to ease pubescent girls’ transition into menstruation, the packages come in various sizes and quantities, which include tasty treats to help make periods a little more fun. Bloom’s company was far from the growing empire it is today and she often had to buy products in bulk from Costco. “When I launched I was still working on setting up distributor relationships,” she told Mashable. Bloom’s main goal however, was to make a promotional video.
No one, not even Bloom herself, could have anticipated the success of the advertisement. The video stars ten-year-old actress Macy McGrail as the “Camp Gyno”, the most powerful lady at camp. Many of us can relate to the story she tells: one girl at camp gets her period and all the other little girls flock to her for advice on using feminine products and dealing with nasty cramps. This girl is practically royalty, but when the other girls learn of HelloFlo, they rely on their monthly care packages and poor Camp Gyno loses all her social status. The brilliant ad is the brainchild of Bloom herself and advertising agency BBDO’s Pete Marquis and Jamie McClelland. Within days the video had millions of views and HelloFlo’s business skyrocketed.
McGrail’s “Camp Gyno” is Solid Gold
And ladies, Bloom can keep up, “I’m still pretty much heads down, trying to fulfill for my new customers. My biggest priority is making sure all the new customers have a positive experience,” she says. Hmm, I think I might get my own membership to HelloFlo!
What made this commercial so successful? Mashable’s Todd Wasserman thinks the video became so popular because of its novel storyline, its “wholesome” treatment of a sometimes embarrassing topic, and its earnest sense of humor.
What I love about the video is that it portrays the female body as a source of empowerment. The ad actually refers to a woman’s period as the “Red Badge of Courage” and the Camp Gyno is seen as “Joan of Arc” to all of the other campers. So many tampon ads paint womanhood as an embarrassing, even humiliating, thing; they seem to suggest, “Use our product, and no one will ever know about your dirty vagina!” I am so sick of it and I am so encouraged to see an ad that tells a story where menstruation is a source of power and even social status, where getting a monthly girlie care package is exciting and liberating.
Check it out yourself!
What do you think of the ad? Let us know in the comments below!
Thanks to Mashable
Images via HelloFlo and Mashable
