PG Procter and Gamble Co

By Sharon Terlep 

Blood is no longer blue for Kotex.

A new ad campaign for the Kimberly-Clark Corp. brand is using a realistic-looking red fluid, rather than the ubiquitous antiseptic-blue liquid, to represent menstrual blood.

Kimberly-Clark's approach to marketing its U by Kotex products on social media and streaming TV comes as more companies look to tap into a movement to end the squeamishness and stigma around womens' health and grooming needs, from body hair to bladder leaks and menopause, that have been standard in such marketing for decades.

"Blood is blood. This is something that every woman has experienced, and there is nothing to hide," said Sarah Paulsen, creative and design director for Kimberly-Clark's North American feminine-care brands.

While some startups have used red liquid in feminine-care ads, and market leader Procter & Gamble Co. used a pink fluid in Facebook ads for its Always maxi pads this month, Kotex appears to be the first major, established brand to show blood-red fluid on its products in marketing. Always has showed a blood-like substance on a girl's sock in a social media post that highlighted the brand's donations of period products to girls unable to afford them.

The liquid shown in the Kotex ad is the same synthetic material that Kimberly-Clark uses to test and develop its feminine-care products.

"It's unbelievable how some brands are still using blue liquid to represent period blood...it's 2020," one commenter wrote Wednesday in response to one of the Kotex ads on Instagram.

Kimberly-Clark and P&G are increasingly prioritizing feminine-care products as they look to offset declining demand in baby products due to a falling birth rate. Both companies have invested in new products and marketing for adult underwear to address bladder leaks, a problem predominantly facing women. And they are looking to expand use of pads and tampons in developing nations.

Last year, a TV commercial by Libra, an Australian feminine-care company, depicted lifelike blood both on a pad and on women's bodies. The ads prompted hundreds of viewer complaints to the country's regulators, which ruled the ad didn't breach industry standards.

Cora, a U.S. startup that sells pads, tampons and other feminine-care products, started using red fluid in 2018. The ads initially were flagged as overly graphic and removed from Facebook and Instagram, Cora co-founder Molly Hayward said. The company spoke with the platforms, she said, and the ads were quickly restored.

"There is a greater appetite and readiness for honesty around this," Ms. Hayward said.

Write to Sharon Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 23, 2020 12:43 ET (17:43 GMT)

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