Tampax, one of the world’s foremost tampon brands, apparently wanted to join in on the seemingly endless conversation on Twitter about how the platform is going to die at the hands of its new overlord owner, Elon Musk. However, what was probably intended as a snarky joke has ended up being the newest addition to the creepy and gross tweets hall of fame.
On Monday morning, Tampax declared that it “refused to let Twitter die” without sharing a certain tweet. The tweet in question referenced a person “sliding into their DMs,” asking someone out online, and stupidly compared that situation to someone inserting a tampon during their period. Tampax asserted that, since its product was inside the person, it was superior.
“You’re in their DMs. We’re in them. We are not the same,” Tampax, which is owned by Proctor & Gamble, tweeted. It added the following just a minute later: “refused to let twitter shut down before we shared this tweet.”
Not to be left out, Always, a leading pad brand also owned by P&G, also chimed in.
“how long have you been saving this one,” Always asked.
Tampax’s response, like this whole encounter, was reminiscent of dumb middle school boy jokes.
“since last period,” the tampon maker said.
Tampax’s tweet goes beyond gross-out humour. It sexualizes the bodies of people who menstruate — most start at about 12 years old, but some get their periods when they’re as young as 8 — and makes a joke targeted to men at their expense.
Besides being creepy and disrespectful, the tweet was also a dumb sales move. Countless people on Twitter were outraged at Tampax’s tweet and said they would stop buying the brands products. Many started tweeting under #BoycottTampax.
“You are disgusting. As a clinical psychotherapist, I have never seen a company selling products to women publicly mock women in such a degrading way AND then take glee and delight in doing so,” Tania Marshall, a clinical psychotherapist, tweeted.
You are disgusting. As a clinical psychotherapist, I have never seen a company selling products to women publicly mock women in such a degrading way AND then take glee and delight in doing so. Certainly #clusterB behavior #BoycottTampax
— Tania Marshall 🇨🇦Clinical Psychotherapist Author (@TaniaAMarshall) November 22, 2022
Gizmodo reached out to P&G for comment on Tampax’s tweet on Tuesday morning but did not receive a response.