“A bloodshed moment
for women's advertising” - The Telegraph
“A slice of genius. Blood! Pain! Miscarriage! Hot flushes! I just showed it to
my 16-year-old and she said “it makes me really proud to be a woman” JOB DONE.”
- Caitlin Moran.
“Wombstories nails the female experience better than Hollywood has done in
over a century of movies” - Nikki Buaghan
The idea:
Essity Libresse/Bodyform new campaign, #wombstories, introduces the world
to our womb dwellers, the anthropomorphic inhabitants of uteruses who sometimes
work for us, and sometimes against us. Through them we tell the raw, untold,
unheard and often unknown stories of women’s experiences. From endometriosis, fertility issues,
pleasurable sex lives, first periods, menopause, miscarriage, through to
the choice not to have children, #wombstories creates a universal
rollercoaster ride of the agony and joy of life with a uterus. And where the feminine
care category reduces menstruation to a biological, clinical
function and tries to suppress it, #wombstories - for the first time -
portrays the emotional bittersweet journey that lasts a lifetime. But
#wombstories isn’t just a film. At its heart it is an ambitious listening and
learning project. With hundreds and hundreds of women all over the world
inspired to describe their relationship to their wombs in emotional and
metaphorical ways. These poetical descriptions have been turned into an
ongoing reactive social campaign.
The background:
#wombstories makes a fundamental shift away from
the functional focus on periods and into the emotional experiences
realm, because at the heart of the taboo lies a piece of dangerous fiction - a
damaging myth that has fuelled silence and shame. It’s the single story all
girls are taught: Get your periods at 12, repeat neatly, accept pain
discreetly, want and have babies, get some more periods and
then retire quietly at menopause.
The problem is, this makes every other experience feel abnormal and wrong. And
the simple truth is it’s not only at odds with the complexity of experiences
women go through, it has cast their pain, their pleasure, their agency, and
their struggles behind a wall of shame and silence. With devastating consequences
on their physical and mental wellbeing.
80% don’t seek help despite worrying pain. 40% of those who had miscarriage,
menopause or endometriosis felt their mental wellbeing was damaged from not
being able to openly share their experiences. It takes on average
7,5 years to get an endometriosis diagnosis. On and on it goes.
Results
Launched in the middle of the pandemic, #wombstories was still able
to cut through with its raw empathy. It’s already breaking down the shame, and
the silence.
An incredible number of people, women and men, are sharing their
diverse and poignant #wombstories across social media and in
our #wombstories archive and expressing their gratitude for the
campaign. People have found the courage to tell their own (and often for the
first time) previously deeply hidden #wombstories.
From journalists saying it is “the “most relatable ad ever made” (Glamour), to
Hollywood stars telling everyone to “take a ride on the bittersweet
rollercoaster that is the female experience” (Cara Buono), the reaction from
mainstream media & influencers has been overwhelmingly positive.
It’s still early in the campaign but the results have already exceeded the
success of the previous taboo-breaking Libresse/Bodyform campaigns
Redfit, Bloodnormal and Viva La Vulva in 4 short weeks. With a 200% increase of
followers on social, 100s of pieces of PR coverage and over 2410000
engagements, it’s proving that when you finally break the wall of silence,
people are relieved and ready to share their #wombstories.