Zack wakes up with a vagina: New stealth ad campaign from Tampax

Not sure what to think about this one. Zack’s story, revealed to be a new ad campaign from Tampax (parent company Proctor and Gamble) is accompanied by a website, blog and Twitterfeed in the voice of 16 year old Zack, who supposedly wakes up with a vagina one day.
Besides doing things like making fun of V-Day (the name of the video above) which is traditionally known as a day to combat violence against women and girls, something about this series does not sit right.
The question of using stealth ad campaigns aside, I can’t echo Double XX’s sentiment that it’s just a fun humorous video series. Maybe it’s the employment of every gender related stereotype imaginable.
As Ann pointed out, it is also not a good portrayal of men. It makes them seem like they have no idea what women go through–totally the “men are from mars women are from venus” trope. Not all men are grossed out by female anatomy or as clueless about women as Zack seems to be.
The series also over-emphasizes the differences between men and women–all of sudden because of a vagina he sees the world totally differently. Starts eating yogurt, yells at his friend, changes his sense of humor, can’t find anything to wear. All of this ignores the years of gendered socialization that a boy like him would have experienced. It essentially makes an argument that anatomy or biology are what affect these behaviors, not society.
One interesting twist though, is that despite Zack’s genital switch, he still seems to identify strongly as male. Is there is a trans friendly message to be found buried here? Possibly the idea that genitalia doesn’t determine your gender identity–although all his observations about the changes he experiences are incredibly gendered. Now I can’t really argue that this message comes across through all the other super-gendered concepts and messaging, but one could hope.
What do you all think?
You can watch all four of the episodes out so far here.

Join the Conversation