WARNING (mainly to men):

For a lot of people, the following video is cringeworthy. It crosses the line. This video advertisement covers a topic considered taboo in many homes…the outloud discussion of a girl's first period.

There, I said it. Did just mentioning that word make you uncomfortable? Then you may not want to watch. 

But, as of this post, 5,986,539 other people have watched it. The Huffington Post writes, "…(this) Ad Gets It Oh-So Right, Makes Us Proud To Be Women." BuzzFeed declares, "Hello Flo just won Ad of the Year." And Arwa Mahdawl writes in The Guardian, "The rapturous reaction received by Camp Gyno is a clear indication that women are increasingly rejecting the risible conventions of sanitary-product advertising."

There's a lot of chatter on the Internet about this video…many supporting this approach and some questioning both the tactic and the need. I think that's a good thing from a pure marketing perspective. The owner, Naama Bloom, has successfully created controversy, conversation, and, more important, sales. In an interview with the Israeli newsource, Haaretz, Bloom talked about how she discovered this acknowledged need. "I spoke to other parents and I realized that there is a space here, an unacknowledged space. It’s not that girls don’t talk to their moms and dads about this — it’s that they don’t go in depth."

Bloom displays understanding of two very important marketing tenets: find a clearly defined target market (1) that acknowledges a need for your product or service (2). If you fit her niche, you get it. If you don't fit, you probably don't. And that's okay.

Last week I shared the plight of my country club and asked for your comments. Boy, did you comment! This week, I'm sharing a controversial video ad that's getting a lot of attention. I'd love to hear again what you think. Is this good marketing? Bad Marketing? Is it in bad taste? What do you think?

Are you ready to watch it now?