Inspiring the industry

Bodyform’s journey in taboo-breaking advertising started in 2017 with “Blood Normal,” when it became the first U.K. brand to depict real menstrual blood instead of the blue liquid that typically represented it in commercials. 

Since then, the brand and AMV BBDO have gone on to create a joyful ode to vulvas with 2018’s “Viva la Vulva;” depict the highs and lows of living with a womb in 2020’s “Womb Stories; raise awareness of women’s pain in 2021’s “Pain Stories;” and highlighted the gender sleep gap in 2022’s “#Periodsomnia.”

Bodyform gained fame and awards for these campaigns, spawning a wave of copycat advertisers who similarly claimed to smash taboos about women. 

However, for the Essity brand, “our strategy and purpose is not to break taboos. The whole point is to leave women+ [inclusive of different identities pertaining to gender] feeling understood,” Revol said. 

“This is more about an ambition to tell the whole truth,” she continued. “If it means other brands will try to copy that and will listen and understand women+ better, that’s only a good thing for women+ and embeds good practices in the industry.” 

The strategy is also paying off for Essity’s business. Before this series of ads, “we were really struggling with the business worldwide,” Azevedo Lara said. 

In the years since, Bodyform / Libresse has become the fastest-growing femcare brand, according to 2024 data from NielsenIQ, Circana and Kantar. It is a $1 billion net sales business, Azevedo Lara said. 

“Our purpose has inspired everything from our communications to our approach to product innovation, which has put us in a much better position,” she said. “We can communicate persuasively that we are the right choice for consumers, but the numbers only give us more argument to continue our journey.”