Unspoken: The Taboos That Shape Women’s Lives And What Brands Can Do About It
So much of a woman’s life is still treated as taboo—our health, our money, our aging, even our grief. We’re told to keep things quiet, stay agreeable, and not make anyone uncomfortable. But silence serves the status quo, not women. This piece explores what taboos cost us—and what brands can do to help break them.
How to Help Women Feel Comfortable Sharing Taboo Purchases
Our research shows most women are talking about taboo purchases with people in their social networks. But to reach the women who would benefit most, brands need to make it easier for women to talk openly about their experiences. The first step might be starting and facilitating those general conversations so that women can ease into sharing more personal details.
Women Are Starting Taboo Conversations
Women talk. Even if they’re discerning about who they talk to, most do not keep taboo purchases completely private. These products and services may be taboo publicly, but that’s far from the case in women’s private conversations.
Newsflash: Women Want Accurate Period Ads
In 2023, menstrual product brands are going head-to-head with media companies, continuing to gatekeep the messages women receive in their ads. These powerful companies often consider menstrual blood on par with other bodily fluids, deeming these visuals inappropriate, gratuitous, or graphic.
Sex, sexuality, and sex products in advertising
We know sex is a powerful force in people's lives. In some ways, it makes sense advertisers jumped (and continue jumping) to use it to sell products and services. But does sex sell?
We have two opposing forces at play. Advertising uses women’s sexuality, a Frankenstein version, to sell products and services. Yet women have little ad space for exploring their sexuality authentically. In some ways, how women feel about sex, sex toys, sexual identity, pleasure, desire, and more is absent in advertising. It’s implied, contorted, and avoided in messaging. Instead, women are often face to face with a reductionist version of their sexuality, with them as objects for men’s desire.
taboos and gender inequality
Even though people of all genders buy products like cannabis, alcohol, and sex toys, women consistently say they’re treated differently by advertisers—as if they’re not using the same products as their male friends, partners, and brothers. Brands need to ditch their preconceived notions about gender-based consumption.
It’s Time for Brands to Talk Taboos
Change isn’t easy, and it often comes with discomfort. It’s time brands take on the discomfort. Do some heavy lifting with your messaging, take risks, and upset the status quo. On the other side, you gain access to women who are guiding financial decisions and have immense spending power.
How do you craft better messaging? And how do you assess whether it’s landing? Read on…
Increasing the Social Acceptability of Taboo Products and Services
According to our research, women are buying taboo products and services but are often reluctant to discuss these purchases with others. Women want to be understood and see their lives reflected in ads, and when social stigmas keep this from happening, it can prevent them from buying these products and services, discussing their use openly, and becoming brand advocates.
How Social Stigmas Influence Taboo Purchases
Social stigmas are a powerful force in the product and service world, serving as a literal wall between women and their communities. However, brands are uniquely positioned to take that wall down, brick by brick, making it easier for women to talk about products and services that benefit them.
Shopping can change the sexual wellness conversation
News flash: Humans are sexual beings.
We have needs, wants, desires. We seek others to share experiences. And sometimes we bring products into the picture.
Is There An Expiration Date On Women’s Sexual Pleasure?
When I attended a Sexual Pleasure Workshop for women over 40 I was confident I knew exactly what to expect. The majority of the women in this group were over 50 and so I buckled down for another depressing menopause chat.
I could not have been more wrong.
Sexual Wellness Needs To Come Out of The Shadows and Lower Shelves
By carrying only a small assortment, and hiding away the products that actually do have shelf space, the message the consumer gets is that she should hide away her needs, her wants, and her desires.
Why is female pleasure censored?
It’s something we feel pretty strongly about here at Fancy. Why can we advertise condoms as long as we don’t discuss how they make a woman feel? Why can we advertise a drug to make a man get an erection, and even say *gasp* “erection,” but we can’t advertise a product or even name such a product that’s designed to increase her pleasure?
Women’s new cannabis culture
Women are the caretakers, the investigators, the researchers, the questioners, and the status quo changers when it comes to their own and their family's health. They're looking for alternatives to questionable chemical concoctions and they're open to cannabis. Women are the key to the mainstreaming revolution!