There’s a little – not much, but a little – more news on the Always advert I wrote about yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon, Procter and Gamble put out a statement saying this is a spoof advert, while the production company have claimed it was an “internal use” advert that was never released. (I.e. not a spoof)

Neither of these statements quite ties up with the fact that the advert appears on the film company’s web site. (Under commercials, left hand column, third film down) The accompanying “about” box states that it caused “stream of controversy” when released and that it was later “pulled”. The film has also been found, dated 2009, on the Vimeo video-sharing web site where it was uploaded by the film company apparently as part of an historical archive of their work.

It’s surfaced this week after appearing this week on the Ads Of The World web site and it’s reasonable to assume that whoever has been handling this at P&G has no knowledge or memory of the advert, hence it being described (Inaccurately, but woth honest intent) as a “spoof”. The guy listed as being the creative director on the video left the company concerned in 2007, but the “have a happy period” campaign seems to have started in 2005, which gives us a pretty good idea of the possible date ranges involved.

In conclusion, it looks like it’s an older advert, somewhere between four to six years old, that may have been released briefly before being pulled.

Update: Please see this blog post for more information. This appears to be an older advert that was pulled and is not recent.

Via @PMS_warrior and @thefworduk, I ran across this advert for Always this morning. After a while doing Trans campaigning, even at a low level, I’ve grown pretty immune to many things and I’m usually just mildly offended by transphobia in the media. I get more annoyed at the way media can make transphobia seem “acceptable” and the perpetuation of oppression that such things generate.

But this advert… wow. It has to be the most offensive piece of media I’ve run across in a long time. And it’s supposed to be an advert?!

For those wanting to complain, the company concerned are Procter & Gamble. They are on Twitter as @ProcterGamble

(Warning: Some may find the video triggery)

Edited to emphasise the above warning: I’m pretty thick skinned, and I still find this ad highly offensive and deeply troubling. Others have been reduced to tears by it and have been unable to watch it to the end. Even if you are not Trans, you may find this upsetting if you are infertile or have similar difficulties.