I recently saw one of the worst advertising campaigns ever. It was for the new Always Infinity pad with the campaign tagline — “Experience the Magic” — featuring a red-haired women dressed in all-white magician outfit.

If the print ad wasn’t bad enough, the Always Web site left me embarrassed to admit I’ve been a loyal Always brand user for 20+ years. The “How It Works” section where visitors can click on the sparkles on the pad to “see the magic right before your eyes” is creepy. The video with the same red-haired, white-clad magician showing how the magical pad works is weird. And the 3-D portion of the Web site — which shows how to print out an image of a white magician hat, hold it in front of a Web cam, move the hat around and watch a bunny jump out — made me think I was on a Web site advertising a magician for my child’s upcoming 8^th birthday party rather than a Web site promoting a pad!

Granted, the bar hasn’t been set too high with ads for feminine care products. They all seem to have the same conventional images: blue liquid being poured onto a pad to demonstrate its superior absorbability or women confidently running and jumping while proudly wearing white-colored clothes thanks to their tampon.

So it got me thinking, has anyone advertising pads or tampons broken from these traditional symbols in a way that would cause women to re-evaluate what they think about one of these brands? Has anyone discovered a meaningful way to emotionally connect their product to their target audience?

With an “F” from me on the Always campaign, I sought out another feminine care product that got it right. My pick is Tampax Pearl tampons and their “Outsmart Mother Nature” campaign.

The “Outsmart Mother Nature” campaign cleverly uses relatable humor to connect to women on an emotional level. This is done via scenarios where a sinister looking Mother Nature dressed in a suit hand delivers her red-wrapped monthly gift to an unsuspecting woman on vacation and in the middle of a romantic dream.

Tampax Waylei’d

Tampax Pearl Romance

The execution also works in other mediums. On the Tampax homepage Mother Nature appears from behind a copy box and sets down her red-wrapped monthly gift. They even took an unscripted, grassroots approach with Mother Nature delivering her monthly gift to unsuspecting women walking down the street.

Mother Nature Best Deliveries

And while the “Outsmart Mother Nature” campaign is relatively new, the willingness of Tampax to use humor as an emotional connection is something the brand consistently has done — even as far back as these hilarious ads featuring a Mariachi band and period dance.

Tampax Commercial (Mariachi)

Tampax Dance

What are your thoughts — do you see the value of using a symbol of re-evaluation within this category? What about humor as an emotional connection? Or unlike me, can you see the “magic” behind the Always campaign?