18 Again After 18 Beyond

“… has the power and the potential to break the shackles and redefine the meaning of women empowerment altogether”

Thumbs up if the one who is of the above opinion knows what ‘women empowerment’ is all about. Quite strong words, what say? You must have come across that latest ad doing the rounds these days, the one of 18 Again, a vaginal rejuvenating cream which claims to make it “Whiter and tighter”. The number of likes and dislikes for the video on YouTube is proof enough for a divided opinion though. Considering the number of ladies who visit the gynaecologists with the most dreadful of their problems, the number of high vaginal and cervical swabs that we microbiologists screen, and the number of organisms, the kind of infections that are being diagnosed day in and day out it wouldn’t be wrong to say women have more gross and worse problems to deal with.  If someone comes up with a cream available for every woman for free regardless of her age, social strata, sexual ideas or marital values, and if that can keep her “Cleaner and healthier” all patients who suffer and doctors who treat them will definitely be much happier.

The ad is about empowerment, or so it claims. If ‘sexual’ empowerment is what they mean, okay the woman uses the cream and has it tighter and whiter, what about the man? Longer and stronger, is it? The way we have taller,sharper, fairer and what else. So where flies the gender equality? Of course there are a thousand other products available in the market. Do watch the television post eleven or flip through the newspapers and you will definitely come across one. They are hilarious, more than erotic. But now that a creative team behind an ad has a different take on it, we all go yada yada yada. Unfortunately things such as these form our tea time gossip or coffee table discussions, and well blog posts such as this one ;-)

It is easy to fall for curiosity, and in such matters needless to say I bet if I were to use any of ‘those’ words in this post, the number of visitors on this blog will be a record count altogether and this blog definitely make it to the list of porn websites. If the advertisement was meant to reach the masses in a country were such issues are not discussed or even thought about beyond closed doors, kudos to the people behind the making of this ad, just for their attempt. But how successful, meaning effective or useful this shall be we ought to wait and see. What is appreciable about the ad is the “Yes you do” part, imagine all men saying this to their women every time they sleep together I guess such creams and ads wouldn’t be even necessary. Empowerment will then make more sense. And at the end of the story just like the end of the ad there will be happier couples like the grandma and grandpa, such a jolly good pair! :-)

Picture Courtesy

 "You are never too old to live"

-R.