Zack Johnson. Have you met him?
Zack wants you to know him and all about his new “girl parts.” He has a blog that discusses it, and he’s on Twitter and YouTube too.
The story goes that Zack, who is 16, woke up one morning to find he had a vagina instead of a penis (and I’m assuming no more testicles either). Zack chronicles his concerns and the obvious complications that go along with a sudden, uninvited gender change when in high school.
Here’s the video on YouTube that details the event. It’s a little long, but seriously the writing is good. Spoken like a true 16-year-old and an interesting one at that.
My favorite line is at the end when he says: “50% of the population has one [vagina] and they seem to be doing pretty well.”
True dat Zack. We are doing pretty well–vagina and all.
So anyway, you are probably wondering what this is all about. As reported on the popular site Advertising Age, Tampax invented Zack as a way to promote their product–you know, the tampon–by trying to go viral.
“It was inexpensive for us to do this one little effort and kind of get a feel for how much pickup it gets, if it goes viral or if it doesn’t,” the P&G spokesman said
But is it really one little effort?
Character creation, a blog, a Twitter stream, YouTube videos, and all the other wonderful things that go along with online marketing. Spreading this message is not for the faint at heart–I mean, the video is 12 minutes long.
Regardless of the campaign’s “viralness” (no, I’m not talking about VD, I’m talking about whether or not it becomes an Internet hit), I’m curious to see how others respond to it.
I think the campaign has some merit. I like it because it allows all of us to think about periods in a different way. How would a guy react if they had to deal with this crap? Should women really be so critical of men for not understanding what we go through?
Let’s be honest: Can a man really sympathize with a vagina and menstruation? They have no idea, and it’s not their fault.
So, Zack Johnson. You haven’t convinced me to use Tampax necessarily, but you did get me thinking about my period and why I should be kinder to men when they say ignorant things like: “50% of the population has one and they seem to be doing just fine.”
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