In Time Article About Tampon Shortages, Proctor & Gamble Curiously Blames … Amy Schumer?
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A Proctor & Gamble spokesperson blamed a surprising cause for a tampon shortage: an ad campaign the company had been running featuring comedian Amy Schumer.
Time Magazine’s Alana Semuels wrote about the shortage, noting that she had personally observed the feminine hygiene products in short supply at grocery stores in New York, Massachusetts, and California during the past few months, representing a larger nationwide trend. Tampon prices were spiking on Amazon, Reddit users and online moms groups were “complaining” about having trouble finding them, and a charity that supported homeless women reported a “big drop off” in tampon donations, wrote Semuels.
Semuels noted the ongoing pandemic-related supply chain issues and reached out to Proctor & Gamble, manufacturer of Tampax, the best-selling tampon brand in the country, and got this comment naming Schumer:
Ask Procter & Gamble why it is so hard to find tampons right now, and the company will blame Amy Schumer. P&G, which makes Tampax, America’s most popular tampon brand, launched a new ad campaign with the comedian in July of 2020. Since then, “retail sales growth has exploded,” spokeswoman Cheri McMaster says. Demand is up 7.7% over the past two years, and the company is running its Auburn, Maine Tampax factory 24/7 to meet demand. (All of P&G’s tampons are made in one factory in Maine; all of the tampons of Edgewell Personal Care, which makes the brands Playtex and o.b., are made in a factory in Dover, Delaware.)
It was an odd response, as Semuels remarked she found it “a little hard to pin the tampon shortage on Amy Schumer,” because “Who watches commercials anymore?” and other non-Tampax brands were also having trouble keeping product in stock.
The pandemic caused consumers to stock up on many items, most famously toilet paper, and that also included tampons. Trouble obtaining raw materials and shipping delays (both for the various raw materials and for the finished products) have also plagued tampon manufacturers. The cotton, rayon, plastic, and paper pulp that comprise various types of tampons and applicators were also in high demand for personal protective equipment needed for the pandemic, adding further demand pressures on an already constricted supply. As of April, the raw price of cotton alone had gone up 71% since the year before.
It’s not just a problem for P&G; TOP The Organic Project has been flying the biodegradable wrappers it uses for its hygiene products rather than shipping on ground because that method “has become so difficult and expensive,” and the company CEO told Time that the cost of shipping tampons from their manufacturing facility in Europe to the U.S. was up 300$% from last year.
Unsurprisingly, these factors have all led to price increases, for a product that is not one that women can simply skip buying. Scanner data compiled by Nielsen IQ to track prices across the country shows a 10.8% increase in the prices of feminine care products since last year.
As for Schumer, she seems blissfully unaware the company who hired her as a celebrity spokesperson is attempting to blame their supply chain woes on her apparently commercial appeal, and has not tweeted about it.
