One British man's cri de coeur against the innocent, winged maxi pad has quickly taken off online, where it has become a widely popular Facebook post.
With faux-naiveté, Richard Neill attacks the British brand Bodyform for deceiving him into believing that menstruation was a "time of joy and 'blue water.' "
He goes on to describe – using the punctuation of an eight-year-old – the rude awakening he experienced when his first girlfriend became a venomous, head-spinning monster during her time of the month.
Nah, nothing exaggerated about that whatsoever.
But in the two days since airing his grievance, Neill's comment has generated more than 77,000 Likes on Facebook – a number that far overshadows the brand's 4,000.
Unsurprisingly, more than a few commenters have declared the rant "bloody brilliant."
Perhaps the takeaway message here is not Neill's hyperbolic language so much as silly clichés built into sanitary-pad advertising. In 2010, Kotex launched a campaign to promote its tampons by poking fun at well-established tampon tropes.
Neill told news-sharing site The Daily Dot that he has yet to hear from Bodyform. Anyway, what would be an appropriate response? It's not as if he could benefit from a life's supply of products.
But it turns out he might have had another agenda all along. He has been using the comments section of the company's Facebook page to promote his e-book, Someone To Share My Beans With. According to the description on Amazon, the 69-page novella revolves around a single guy trying to meet and understand women.
Alas, it seems Neill has a ways to go.
Amy Verner