Here’s what I saw:

Ladies! If you don’t scrub your “V” with our chemicals, you’re disrespecting all the men who’ve fought over your “V” for centuries! Duh! These chemicals make your “V” powerful! Knights and ninjas will fight over the right to rule your “V” - and you can give birth to gods and rule Egypt! YEAH!

Is that about right? Never mind that using these types of products can do more harm than good, including upping the risk of certain types of infections. 

Transcript of the ad:

It’s the cradle of life
It’s the center of civilization.
Over the ages and throughout the world, men have fought for it, battled for it, even died for it.
One might say, it’s the most powerful thing on Earth.
So, come on, ladies, show it a little love!
Cleansing wash and cloths, from Summer’s Eve. Hail to the V!

Maya at Feministing writes, “Pro tip: Equating women with their vaginas and saying they are powerful because men have fought over them throughout history? Not all that empowering really.”

Exactly. It’s condescending to reduce any power we have to it somehow emanating from between our legs - not to mention the whole ad itself is pretty heterosexist. 

Summer’s Eve also produced the racist, talking “vertical smile” ads from this summer, which Stephen Colbert mocked in a brilliant take-down here. As Feministing points out, this commercial is not about empowerment. It’s about provoking anxiety to sell a product that no one with a vagina needs. These commercials claim our vaginas are incredibly powerful, yet regular ol’ soap and water isn’t delicate enough for our delicate flowers.

As for delicate flowers, women used to be encouraged to douche with Lysol, for fuck’s sake! Seriously! Check out this ad, warning of wives “losing the precious air of romance for lack of intimate daintiness…”

So how about this? We stop using harmful chemicals to cleanse a part of our bodies that doesn’t need it, and we stop giving into fear that our worth comes from our sexuality, mmkay?