The Weird & Wonderful World of Tampon Art

         Tampon coupons come in handy during that time of the month, but they’re also pretty useful for art projects – if you’ve got the right eye.       

 Consider Walter Raes, who has an entertaining Web site full of fashions fashioned from unlikely materials. He’s made a clubbing top out of keypads, a dress out of cassette tapes, and a cola-can wedding dress. His newest invention is the “Charles Period Top” made from tampons (a clever twist on the “period piece” to be sure). Wouldn’t want to get caught in the rain wearing that one, but it is pretty astonishing.

         If that’s not enough to convince you that tampon coupons are good for a lot more than their intended purpose, consider “A Novia” the 5-meter high tampon chandelier made by Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos. “A Novia” means “The Bride” and this work of art is as stunning as it is inventive. Vasconcelos has done some other incredible things – like this  stainless pot shoes installation – but this chandelier has to be one of her most jaw-dropping accomplishments. It consists of more than 14,000 tampons, wire, and cotton thread. It actually looks like any other chandelier until you get up close – and that’s when it becomes apparent how incredible this thing is. Make you wonder what potential is hiding in other everyday objects I overlook, doesn’t it? 

Strange Saving Strategies

         So the stock market is less than stable – to put it gently – and millions of Americans are nervous about where to put their money. If you were thinking about places to stash your cash where you could be sure it wouldn’t get lost, what would you do? You could entrust it to a bank, but the risk of a bank collapse has inspired some people to taking their savings into their own hands (literally). If you had to store your life savings in your home, where would you hide it? In the freezer? With your tampon coupons? You won’t believe the places people are concealing their cash.

         According to CNNMoney, an increasing number of people are choosing to store their resources in unexpected places as the result of growing uncertainty about the global economy. Interviewees said they put their cash in places as diverse as the magazine of a gun, the belly of a teddy bear, and even a box of tampons. As a kid, I always kept things I wanted to hide from my brother in my tampon box because the mere mention of tampon coupons freaked him out and I knew he’d never go anywhere near that gross girl stuff. But the burglars who’d seek to rob you blind probably don’t have the same phobias as adolescent boys.

         So if you really want to outsmart burglars, you’re going to need something a little less conventional – perhaps this lettuce safe?

         "No one would ever suspect it's anything but a perennially ripe leafy vegetable," said Lettuce safe owner Kerrie Hopkins. You can keep it in your fridge, which gives a whole new meaning to the term “cold cash.” 

Guerilla Marketing: The New Way to Sell Tampons?

Marketing tampons is famously tricky – making the product sound appealing is virtually impossible. Some ads go the clinical route, explaining the research that proves why a certain tampon is most effective. Others buck science and try to make women laugh, which is admirable enough (the Kotex commercials which featured a beaver come to mind) – but just because you make a woman laugh doesn’t mean you’ll make her feel more confident about the tampons she uses. Sure, tampon coupons are a good way to get women to actually try the product – using is believing – but recently, a Dutch company pulled a tampon marketing stunt that puts all other attempts to shame.

         The company loaded a plane up with thousands of tiny, pink-parachuted tampons and dropped them above a beach during the peak of tourist season, when their product was sure to reach the largest possible audience. It makes sense, right? Kind of – if you’re on your period at the beach, you NEED tampons, but I’m not sure where the idea to play this off like a military exercise came from.

         The video shows the whole thing going down, though you probably won’t understand what anyone is saying. It doesn’t matter, you’ll catch the most important points: there are tampons falling from the sky, and the cameraman is definitely a man (he keeps getting distracted from the event he’s documenting by cute girls in bathing suits).

         The environmental impact of this is a little suspect – I hope the company came back and rounded up any stray tampons – but I can’t imagine a more aggressive marketing campaign. Maybe this means the days of good old fashioned tampon coupons and commercials are giving way to more inventive marketing that flies in the face of unnecessary period-shame – time will tell!