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Creativity Online

Rate the Ad: SCPF: Global Period Project

A social media experiment that aims to synchronize all the women of the world's periods.

Published: Jun 17, 2009
Last week on Rate the Ad, we offered up the Facebook-released spot for the Palm Pre that features 1,000 martial artists. In the ad, from Modernista! and production company m ss ng p eces, Shaolin Tagou Kung Fu students perform in unison around a woman interacting with the new smart phone. We wanted to see if you could parse the spot's symbolism, or if the martial arts talent is well paired with technology, especially considering the explicit, product demo-like precedent the iPhone spots have set.

Well, it looks like the elliptical technique was in fact welcome, at least with commenter "Elrin." He says, "I loved the 'connected' imagery between phone and user as translated by the Shaolin. Music was serene and engaging. I was quite riveted. If you watch closely the martial arts does show itself. So no it's not a waste. Could you have used synchronized dancers/gymnasts/swimmers, in their own settings of course? Sure! But the impact of ease (through the Zen serenity scene supplied by local) of use displayed here was perfect. It gets the message across and I remember the product. Show me more! To me it is the first phone since the iPhone I have wanted to look at."

This week, we turn to a "social media experiment" from the Miami arm of agency SCPF. Running with the theory that the menstrual cycles of women in close proximity often synch up, the agency built the social networking tool Global Period Projectto see if it can replicate this effect with virtual contact. Can the women of the world get on the same period schedule via social networking? Yes or no, we're wondering what you think of the experiment. Is it social media's feminist celebration of the much maligned monthlies? A new frontier in gender studies? Social media curiosity run amok? Online community tools misapplied? Share your thoughts on the project and its execution, below.
5 Comments: By PJM1 June 18th, 2009 07:31:42 am

What project? It says "The Goal? Who knows." Um, why would I do it, then?

I'm also a little put off by the use of "that" instead of "who" right before talking about emotional connection.

And the pink, dear God, the pink. And what's with the seagulls again?

The whole thing makes me wonder what these people are trying to prove. If I'm going to go telling a nameless stranger when my periods are, he or she better give me a really good reason.

Also, the whole synching effect has been revisited, and many people think it's bunk. And McClintock herself still thinks the effect is there for women who already have flexible cycle lengths (many women do not), but she found the same synchrony could be created by wiping women's underarms and sticking the swabs under other women's noses. So if it even exists, it's highly unlikely you can make it happen by having women tell you when their periods are. Even a whole LOT of women.

Furthermore, the idea of the 5-day vacation every 28 days is totally insulting and stupid. The most shallow and idiotic interpretation of "feminism" imaginable. And the entire project's foundation, the idea that cycle lengths are flexible, belies this 28-day cycle and 5-day period nonsense they've been feeding us out of textbooks for decades. Give me a break.

Did I mention how much I hate pink, both as a color and as a marketing tool? Unless your market is 4-year-old girls, please, please stop with the pink already.

By leilan1 June 18th, 2009 10:31:31 am

At first, I thought it might be another experimental buzz generator by P&G for its Tampax brand...but, considering the completely cheesy, yet totally boring execution - I think not. The whole approach is one big yawn.

By noTxt June 18th, 2009 02:44:03 pm

I like the pink

By masbrooklyn June 20th, 2009 12:23:29 pm

another misogynist attempt at marketing by men to women with pepto-barbie-bismol pink

By GMLM June 20th, 2009 01:55:03 pm

Now that girls start PMSing as early as 9 (!) pharmarketing seems to be expanding their toolbox.
Another side effect of the transgenic genetically modified garbage that we eat.
How about a Global Frankenfood Project to get the world to stop eating manufactured poison?
OK, enough social activism for today.
I kinda like the trippy 8bit thingy.

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