Tampon ads are filled with euphemisms, and feature women in varying shades of white frolicking outdoors. Nobody knows their secret, and really that's all anyone's ever asked of a tampon. But now Kotex is stirring things up with a new campaign called Break the Cycle. It parodies typical feminine-product commercials by talking openly and frankly about periods. Too frankly for TV. The New York Times reports three networks rejected the ad, and only one of those networks accepted it after the word "vagina" was switched out for "down there."
Now that a company is finally trying to challenge the status quo, and maybe peddle what it believes are the finest applicators around, television won't have it. Yet TV shows have been doing a better job talking about periods for years. Here are clips from three shows — Blossom, 7th Heaven, and The Cosby Show — that, despite overuse of the word "woman," do a remarkable job of talking about menstruation.
Watch them after the jump
