Can men sell maxi pads?

Stayfree is betting on it with a series of spots featuring absurd caricatures of female fantasy

Published August 30, 2010 11:14PM (EDT)

Looks like Stayfree is trying to emulate the success of the Old Spice guy with a new series of online ads that put three different sweet-talking hardbodied hunks in front of the camera. It may seem an original idea to have men sell maxi pads, but the spots are a hot mess of cliches and stereotypes borrowed straight from the "Porn for Women" books.

The videos are all shot from the woman's point of view at the start of a hot date. There is Brad, tall dark and handsome, cooking up a "rosemary sunflower risotto" just for you; Ryan is in the middle of making toys "for underprivileged kids overseas" when you show up; and blond-haired Trevor, who has a wall covered with his medical degrees, is busily vacuuming ("I hate a messy home!"). In each sketch, your date finds a reason to take off his shirt and, ultimately, to demonstrate the absorbency of various maxi pad brands. (Lord knows that's how my dream date would end.) At one point, Ryan gushes, "It's not fair that you should have to experience this every month," he says, looking off into the distance with affected sensitivity and depth, ala Chris Klein. "It's just not fair."

Hey Stayfree, know what's unfair? Constantly being subjected to pop cultural ephemera that treats female desire as either nonexistent or an absurd punch-line. Come up with a pad that can soak up all that junk and then maybe we can talk.

(Via Fleshbot, which is very NSFW.)


By Tracy Clark-Flory

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