Plenty Of Blood — But None Of It Bad

Mick // Serena Williams is one tough chick, and she’s talking smack to Mother Nature in a commercial for Tampax.

“She has been blessed with so many gifts,” said Mother Nature, pulling out a red present.

“And today I’m going to bless her with mine.”

The tongue in cheek video (after jump) is causing a stir.

The ad is a press conference where Serena Williams and Mother Nature talk about their strategies before the game. Mother Nature says: “There is plenty of blood, but none of it bad.”

She goes on to say that they’re like family and “Serena loves me like an aunt, Aunt Flo”.

But Serena gets her revenge. We see the tiny-tweed bound woman trying to deliver the red package as Serena pounds her with well aimed balls. It is clear who wins.

The ad ends with “Outsmart Mother Nature.”

I loved Mother Nature’s line about there not being any bad blood. I am of the hippie-dippie-periods-are-a-natural-part-of-life school of thought so I was a bit disturbed with the need to battle Mother Nature. Surely we’ve progressed past this.

But when I saw what the New York Post called it an “uncomfortably graphic video.”

What was graphic? The tongue-in-cheek references to Aunt Flo, monthly presents and bad blood? The red wrapping paper on the present? The tennis court? The tweed suit?

Diaper ads are more graphic. Condom ads are more graphic. Almost half of the world’s population bleed once a month, so it’s not all that weird.

One day I hope we can progress past these cutesy metaphors and just admit that some things do bleed for five days and don’t die.