Women’s and sexual health telehealth company Wisp is taking direct aim at medical marketing censorship via a campaign that was recently plastered all over New York.
The out-of-home (OOH) campaign — We Heart Healthy Vaginas — is intended to destigmatize conversations around women’s sexual health and remove the taboo associated with words like “vagina” or “pleasure.”
Jenny Dwork, vice president of marketing at Wisp, told MM+M that the campaign sprouted from a previous Wisp ad that was posted in Times Square two years ago.
The ad received considerable pushback for featuring the word “vagina” and was taken down a short time later.
“When it comes to speaking about vaginal health and women’s health issues, we’re starting to see more of a dialogue in mainstream media,” Dwork said. “But it’s still something that’s not talked about enough. When it comes to saying ‘vagina,’ we’re met with censorship and pushback from media companies — both from digital and more traditional companies.”
She also pointed to another recent example of censorship around women’s health. Earlier this year, an ad campaign featuring cookbook author Molly Baz done in partnership with breastfeeding company Swehl was removed from Times Square after the ad was deemed to violate “guidelines on acceptable content.”
The ad, which featured a pregnant Baz holding two cookies over her breasts, was located on a billboard that frequently ran underwear ads without any problems, according to reporting from The New York Times.
Swehl co-founder Elizabeth Myer told the publication that the ad being taken down indicated how women are still dealing with “systemic shame of our bodies and breasts” at the highest levels.
“We’ve seen this conversation ebb and flow in the media,” Dwork said. “We thought this was a good time to bring it back to life and show how important it is to us through this provocative — which shouldn’t be provocative — campaign in New York City.”
Dwork notes the double standard is also evident in women’s sexual products and advertising, whereas men’s erectile dysfunction products are more freely marketed.
“We’re often faced with different kinds of standards than what we see with men’s sexual health and sexual wellness,” Dwork said.
We Heart Healthy Vaginas is primarily an OOH campaign, though it’s also running on social media platforms like Meta, Instagram and TikTok and has an influencer component.
Dwork expects the OOH ads across the city may experience some controversy and eventual censorship, but she hopes they will spark dialogue regardless.
“‘Vagina’ is not a dirty word,” Dwork said. “The more that we can say it, the more it will become de-stigmatized and the more attention it will get, which it deserves.”
