Essity: Viva La Vulva
Essity challenged AMV BBDO London to launch a new intimate care range while expanding their brand purpose beyond periods. They needed to overcome the category's legacy of shame and clinical coldness. The goal was to engage women in Europe by addressing the rising anxiety and lack of knowledge regarding vulva diversity, ultimately positioning the brand as a supportive, taboo-breaking ally in female health.
Creative Idea
Used diverse artistic objects to lip-sync a soulful anthem celebrating anatomical variety and pride.
A vibrant musical anthem featuring diverse, artistic representations of vulvas singing "Praise You" to dismantle the "perfect vulva" myth and replace deep-seated anatomical shame with a celebratory, inclusive visual language that normalizes female bodies in culture.
The Singing Lips That Toppled Taboos
450 Vulvas and a Cupcake Battle
Director Kim Gehrig and an all-female production team utilized stop-motion, puppetry, and air jets to animate 450 unique vulvas made from diverse materials like oysters, fruit, and textiles. The production faced immediate censorship when media owners demanded the removal of a "little button" (the clitoris) from a gingerbread cupcake. The agency refused, equating the request to anatomical erasure. The film even included a Barbie doll to highlight the lack of realistic female representation in mainstream culture.
Breaking the Silence and the Market
The campaign achieved a 35.3% lift in Brand Awareness and reached 90% of the target audience in Finland. Despite a £0 media spend in its first two weeks, it garnered over 5 million organic views. The commercial impact was immediate: within five weeks, the new Libresse wipes captured a 33% market share. This success was driven by a 96% positive social sentiment, proving that audiences were ready for a "lip-sync" video featuring the "other lips."
Reclaiming the Designer Vagina
To combat the rise of labiaplasty - then the fastest-growing cosmetic surgery - the brand launched a fashion bursary. This initiative aimed to "repurpose" the clinical term Designer Vagina by funding artists and designers to create vulva-inspired garments. By setting the film to Camille Yarbrough’s "Take Yo' Praise," the team transformed a medicalized "V-zone" into a site of self-love, successfully fighting the myth of the "perfect" anatomy that prevented 1 in 4 women from attending vital health screenings.
Creative Strategy Deconstructed
Company
A bold brand purpose committed to breaking taboos and normalizing female biological realities through empathetic, boundary-pushing communication.
Category
Intimate care brands typically reinforce shame by using clinical language and euphemisms to treat anatomy like a problem to fix.
Customer
Women felt anxiety and dissatisfaction with their bodies due to a lack of exposure to real anatomical diversity and representation.
Culture
A growing cultural movement toward body positivity and the rejection of airbrushed, unrealistic standards of female beauty and perfection.
Company
A bold brand purpose committed to breaking taboos and normalizing female biological realities through empathetic, boundary-pushing communication.
Category
Intimate care brands typically reinforce shame by using clinical language and euphemisms to treat anatomy like a problem to fix.
Strategy:
Dismantle anatomical shame by replacing clinical censorship with a celebratory, diverse, and highly visible visual language.
Customer
Women felt anxiety and dissatisfaction with their bodies due to a lack of exposure to real anatomical diversity and representation.
Culture
A growing cultural movement toward body positivity and the rejection of airbrushed, unrealistic standards of female beauty and perfection.
Strategy:
Dismantle anatomical shame by replacing clinical censorship with a celebratory, diverse, and highly visible visual language.
Results
The campaign achieved 5 million organic views in the first week and maintained a 96% positive sentiment. It successfully defied all media bans and generated significant earned media coverage from outlets like the BBC, Metro, and Women's Health. The 'Viva La Vulva' bathroom takeover and the 'Designer Vagina' fashion bursary further extended its reach and impact, sparking a global conversation about body positivity and female anatomy.
5M
organic views in the first week
96%
positive sentiment
Global
media coverage and conversation
Strategy Technique
Attack a Cultural Blind Spot
It confronts the systemic erasure and censorship of female anatomy in media, exposing how this silence fuels body dysmorphia and prevents women from seeking necessary healthcare.
Explore Technique
Creative Technique
Sing a song
By personifying diverse vulva-inspired objects through a soulful lip-sync, the campaign transforms a source of anxiety into a joyful, public celebration, making the anatomy impossible to ignore or shame.
Explore Technique
Craft Breakdown
The campaign's craft is exceptional for its creative and diverse visual metaphors that normalize a taboo subject through art and music. The seamless integration of various artistic disciplines creates a powerful and cohesive message of empowerment.
The use of diverse, creative metaphors like origami and fruit to represent the vulva is both brilliant and visually stunning.
The script effectively balances the serious issue of body shame with a celebratory and empowering call to action.
The stop-motion and animated sequences bring the 'singing' vulvas to life in a charming and non-threatening way.
The various sets and props are meticulously crafted to support the campaign's vibrant and inclusive aesthetic.
The magic comes from the synergy between the soulful music and the creative art direction, turning a potentially uncomfortable subject into a joyful celebration.
