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Bodyform: the best response ever to a Facebook rant?
By Jenni Baker
A lady’s ‘time of the month’ is quite the taboo subject and for men in particular, a topic that should be avoided at all costs when they are around.
Richard Neill is an exception.
Richard Neill became an overnight viral sensation when he decided to take to Facebook to vent his anger towards Bodyform for using the slogan ‘Have a Happy Period’ in its advertising. That one post has racked up more than 86,743 likes and more than 3,735 comments. And it’s absolutely hilarious:
But what’s even better is that Bodyform has been quick off the mark with a direct response to the post via a personalised spoof video on YouTube – which has also gone viral, so far having notched up more than 135,000 views on YouTube and more than 2,200 Facebook likes.
Conceived by Carat, the short film features Caroline Williams, the “CEO of Bodyform” (Bodyform doesn’t have a CEO!), sitting at her desk with a jug of blue water apologising for lying to men for all these years about periods:
“Hello Richard. We read your Facebook post with interest, but also a sense of foreboding – and I think it’s time we came clean. We lied to you, Richard. And I want to say sorry.”
She talks humorously through the history of Bodyform’s advertising and the maintenance of the ‘period myth’, explaining how the depictions of women rollerblading and having pillow fights during their periods are in fact metaphors.
This is a perfect example of how Bodyform has used social media and online video to engage and create conversation with its audience (not its target audience as it turns out!) But it has certainly got everyone talking about the not-so-sexy brand in a positive way. Absolutely genius!
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