Love Wellness Wants Your Vagina to Smell Like You

Candles shouldn't smell like vaginas, and vaginas shouldn't smell like candles. Or flowers or baby powder, for that matter.

Love Wellness relaunched its fragrance-free pH balancing cleanser with a package redesign, price drop and 30-second ad that cheekily highlights what a vagina should and should not smell like.

Dubbed a "Public Cervix Announcement," the ad clarifies that a piña colada is a drink, a cupcake is a dessert, and A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play ... and not body scents. A vagina's natural scent should be embraced, not covered by perfumed fragrances.

"Our pH balancing cleanser safely cleans your vulva," adds the voiceover. Now there's a word that's rarely heard in advertising. 

"I never saw an ad with the word vulva in it that I can recall," says Lauren Bosworth, founder and CEO of Love Wellness.

"The ad was shot in Montreal," adds Ken Erke, founder and ECD of Major Behavior, the agency that created the campaign. "We all watched over Zoom. Your health should be determined by you. You're fine the way you are."

"Traditional cleansers are basic on the pH scale," Bosworth tells Muse. "They throw the pH out of balance. We're preserving the pH level. You should smell like you. Scented products are a fundamental problem, and it's affecting women's biology negatively. We don't use a bar of soap on our face because the skin is thin and sensitive."

Two additional campaigns are in the works; one for Valentine's Day and one prior to that.

Packages containing a flower, mirror and Love Wellness cleanser were sent to health and wellness influencers. "What you shouldn't smell like," says the flower; "What you should smell like," says the mirror.

"We changed the packaging, got rid of the pump, and it's $10 less than before," says Bosworth. "We evolved to the needs of the consumer. This product should be in every shower of a person with a vulva."

The spot is running on social and digital platforms, including Hulu, A+E, Viacom, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.

CREDITS

Brand Team: Love Wellness
Founder & CEO: Lauren Bosworth 
President: Joanne Hsieh
VP of Marketing: Aaly Hirany 
Director of Brand Marketing: Kelsey Miller
Marketing Specialist: Anna Moszczynski 
Communications Specialist: Madeline McNamara

Creative Agency: Major Behavior
Founder/Executive Creative Director: Ken Erke
Executive Producer: Addie Pampalone
Executive Producer: Mary Cheney
ACD Art Director: Brian Lamy
ACD Copywriter: Rachel Block