The campaign is geared towards men who feel that they have experienced the wrath of a woman with PMS. The campaign is called Everything I Do is Wrong. I visited the website and saw that its sense of humor is really quite sophomoric.
The site describes itself as "Your Home For PMS Management." The site features a "Global PMS Level" system that is currently set on Orange which equates to a warning that suggests men "be on high alert for verbal traps and questions about weight."
Ms. Magazine recently posted an article on the topic of this campaign and I think blogger Leah Berkenwald said it well when she said, "Jeff Goodby, of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, the creative agency behind the campaign, is sitting in that sweet spot where he gets to capitalize on anti-feminist humor about women being too sensitive and/or irrationally angry, and then write off any criticism as women being too sensitive and/or irrationally angry."
I'm quite certain that there are many out there who think opposers to this campaign are too uptight. I sure there are many who will also state that this campaign is meant to be lighthearted and humorous and that it's "not a big deal."
While I am not writhing with anger and steam is not blowing out my ears in some cartoonish manner I will say that this line of advertisement is problematic.
If we are all to look a little deeper (which I think supporters of the ad do not want us to do...because after all it's just in good fun) I think it becomes clearer that this campaign not only promotes sexist stereotypes but it actually promotes excuses for men as well. Rather than work on a relationship the quick fix is milk.
Also, I think the ad ignores how women view other women when they are riding the crimson waves. I have female friends and I have been around plenty during their menses. First of all, not all women experience PMS symptoms or the same PMS symptoms as others. I personally do not become bloated, my nipples do not become sensitive and I do not become irritable or depressed. I do experience cramps and at times become tired. That's about it. Other women become emotional, some experience cramps so intensely that they cry, some feel they can't concentrate well. There are a myriad of symptoms.
When I am in the presence of any of these symptoms I have not felt the need to back away and get some distance. This is not to say that this does not occur. I know men who's girlfriends become easily irritated and they find it difficult to be around them when this happens. I have known women who have dated women and then their cycles sync up. It is true that some women become emotional or irritated but it's been blown out of proportion. It really isn't Armageddon.
Most of us remember the "Milk Does A Body Good" ads where mostly females were captured with a milk mustache. The ad told us that women are sexy when they drink milk. This of course is a marketing scheme to boost sales. So, now The California Milk Processor Board has come up with a brilliant twist and is gathering the men by insisting that milk will do their sanity some good. In other words the board is making money off of sexist stereotypes.
When I first learned of the Everything I Do Is Wrong campaign I immediately remembered a milk commercial I had seen years ago. I looked it up and learned that the commercial came out in 2005. I actually found this commercial on YouTube.
I remember that when I saw this commercial I initially found it funny. I found it funny to witness the men's exaggerated desparation. But later I started to think, "Hey! Wait a minute!" I saw a variation of the commercial at another point and time and felt that the campaign was going overboard. It was hard not to take offense to it.
According to Ms. Magazine, Washington, D.C. Obgyn Connie Bohon says “There are some beliefs that calcium can improve PMS symptoms [but] I don’t know that it’s universally accepted.”
In 1998 a study was presented in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reported that women who took 1,500 milligrams of calcium supplements experienced an approximate 50% reduction in PMS symptoms.
This campaign is not only stereotyping women it is stereotyping men. It is lumping men into a category that says that men are unable to co-exist peacefully with women who are menstruating, they do not possess the ability to sympathize with the women in their lives and they are unable to communicate their discomfort with their partners.
I searched online and found a few blogs that mentioned this campaign. The few that I found were authored by men who evidently found the campaign to be humorous and something that backed up their own personal beliefs about women on their periods.
If you feel that you are a "man living with PMS" as the Everything I Do Is Wrong website suggests perhaps take a moment to think about how realistic or rather how unrealistic the humor really is. It's another arena in which men can unleash founded or unfounded resentments in an unhealthy manner.
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