• by Les Luchter , 8 hours ago

“What do you call your lady parts?” ask two commercials for PH-D Feminine Health. “It doesn’t matter as long as you take care of them,” says the voiceover as a woman is shown walking a beaver and a cat purring. The words “beaver” and “cootie cat” appear onscreen to drive home the point.

Then, as the word “flower” is shown, one ad recommends the brand’s boric acid suppositories “to keep your flower fresh” and the other its vaginal moisturizing gel “if your flower needs watering.”

PH-D planned to premiere this campaign during Oprah Winfrey’s “Menopause Revolution” special on ABC on March 31, but it was rejected due to the onscreen words, the company’s CEO and co-founder Dee Seymour tells Marketing Daily. Other networks also took issue, she says.

Instead, PH-d launched the two ads without the supers (here and here) in a campaign running through July 7 on broadcast, cable and streaming during daytime and post-10 pm dayparts. Outlets include “Drew Barrymore,” “Entertainment Tonight,” “TMZ,” OWN, VH1, MTV, Bravo, Paramount Plus, Peacock, Tubi and YouTube TV. 

In addition to needing to change its ad creative, Seymour also points to PH-D’s scheduled appearance during a “major market station” show’s spotlight on women-owned brands. “Minutes before the hosts of the show were supposed to discuss the product, the producers told them they could not say the name on air,” she recalls. “And the name of the product is pH-D Vaginal Moisturizing Gel. Nor could they zoom in to even show what the product was.”

Such frustration has now led to the launch of “Raise Your Vagina iQ,” a digital “manifesto” and online quiz.

The manifesto, declaring that “the lips above should respect the labia below,” asks, “Why do we often use such unserious words when we talk about our bodies?...Why are ‘vagina’ and ‘vulva” and ‘menopause’ and ‘labia’ flagged and stigmatized in common conversation and media?...Say goodbye shame and goodbye stigma. Speak like a pH-D.”

That latter play on the 11-year-old company’s name is a new brand twist, as the name was originally coined with the first half connoting pH levels and the second half Seymour’s first name.

The wordplay with the quiz promotion doesn’t end with “pH-D.”

"Are you a VaGenius?” asks pH-D’s website. “Take the quiz to find out & get 15% off.”

“Women will graduate from high school and know more about the anatomy of a frog than they do their own bodies,” declares Seymour. “Rate Your Vagina iQ is intended to help women improve on getting to know their bodies and getting comfortable with saying the words, so that we can then be better advocates for ourselves when it comes to our care.”

The quiz is being promoted with paid social, podcast interviews and influencer marketing.

One of those influencers -- “Real Housewives of New York” alumnus Sonja Morgan -- helped PH-D onsite with the recent launch of two billboards in New York’s Times Square, one promoting the quiz, the other showing the original suppository commercial with the words on screen.

The TV ads, the quiz and the billboards  add up to what Seymour says is probably PH-D’s largest marketing campaign ever. As for the messaging, “We’ve never been this open about the issues women are facing when it comes to not having the correct language to describe what’s going on with their bodies.”

She continues, “Doctors tell me that people come in and don't have the body literacy. They aren't able to describe what’s happening with their body… Women oftentimes leave their practitioner’s office because they’re uncomfortable or ashamed to talk about their bodies and the functions that are happening within their bodies.”

PH-D’s creative agency is Curiosity.