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obtampons.ca/apology
J&J is really sorry -- in fact, grand piano and rose petal sorry -- that its popular line of tiny tampons has been hard to find.
Just in case you missed it, Johnson & Johnson would like to say they're sorry. Triple sorry, in fact, that their popular o.b. tampons have become so scarce the last couple of years, women have begun hoarding them like Elaine Benes conserving her precious Today sponges.
Go to the company's website and type in your name and you'll get a personalized musical apology, complete with hot young singer, white grand piano, fluttering rose petals, sky writing, and, yes, even a coupon.
What prompted this elaborate (and literal) song and dance?
Apparently, a "temporary supply interruption" has made the feminine hygiene product increasingly difficult to find. So much so, that boxes of the highly sought-after no-applicator tampons have sold for as much as $99 on eBay. And o.b. devotees have even begun stockpiling what few boxes they've been able to track down.
"Still no OBtampons in stores," Barbara Rice, executive editor of Penthouse Magazine tweeted recently. "So I just ordered many boxes from drugstore.com. This might get me through 'til menopause!"
According to a story in the New York Times (even the Gray Lady likes the brand, it would seem), many women prefer o.b. because of their comfort and convenience.
Live Poll
Ladies, where do you stand on o.b. tampons?
"They're ... smaller and more convenient to carry in a purse or pocket than some competing ones," the Times wrote in a story last year. "In addition, unlike most other tampons, they don't contain a plastic or cardboard applicator tube so they're considered to be more environmentally friendly than other kinds of feminine hygiene products."
While o.b. lovers are quick to tout the many benefits ("I love OB," one woman wrote on the review site, www.rateitall.com, in 2009. "They are easy to insert and silky smooth ... It's the best product ever."), the tampon does have its detractors.
In fact, the brand may just be the most polarizing tampon every sold.
"I hate o.b.," LeahB wrote on the same review site last year. "They're painful, messy and I have never once been able to properly insert the stupid thing."
Leave a Comment:
gross
May be if some women knew where to insert it they may not have such a hard time using them.
Ray41 - would you like a demonstration? Bend over.
And this is totally not TMI. If we have to sit through endless boner pill ads on TV, you can put up with one, short, semi-informative article.
With few exceptions, "boner pills" are not inserted into generally private body parts. Tampons, on the other hand, are. Many of us would be perfectly happy to not hear about them. Ever.
And yet you came here to read a news story that very clearly says "tampon" in the title.
Unless we are speaking French, that word always refers to an insertable.
The only reason I read this article is to see if they explained why there was a supply disruption. They quite pointedly did not. Drug companies have been doing this for the past 6 years, and oil companies have been doing it since the 1920's. If you get a dominant position in a market, then create a "temporary supply disruption" to triple or even quadruple the prices. When it comes back, customers are so glad that they hardly notice the enormous price hike. You do get that, don't you?
WTF???? Why can't they make enough? I mean, how hard can it be to make a tampon? Can't hire people fast enough?
@bloggit: No. She doesn't get it. It's not part of the feminist agenda so it just won't register with her.
Oh, Miker. Always so quick with your sexist comments, and even quicker to get defensive when you're called out.
Which is probably why those female, "generally private body parts" you speak of will always remain elusive and mysterious to you, and your frustrations will only continue to mount.
Uh oh, does the word "mount" offend you?
TMI
This isn't "Too Much Information": it's a heads-up news article about a sanitary product used by millions of women. There is nothing gross or shameful here.
OB tampons are great. They're similar in size to other tampons, but they depend on women learning to insert them without an applicator, which shouldn't be rocket science. But they aren't "tiny" like implied in the headline; they're just easier to carry and dispose of without the bulky applicators.
But unless a woman is trying to conceive, there is no need for her to deal with the fuss and discomfort of menstruation. Taking active birth control pills every day, year after year, has proven safe and eliminates periods and PMS/PMDD completely. No periods, no tampons, no problems!
Some women have risk factors that make hormonal pills unsafe for them, but your doctor will discuss this with you.
That was a nice "plug" for feminine products TT. Sometimes do you........well, have that not so fresh feeling? I do.
A friend of mine dressed up as an OB tampon for Halloween one year. Hilarious.
Tampoons make great stocking stuffers!
I think you're using them wrong.
as a non-customer for this product I'll refrain from comment. Being well past my teen years also helps.
Just wish they hadn't discontinued the Ultra ones.
So true.... not just for me, but for my daughters. Those ULTRAs were the BEST!
I plugged my name into the personalized song on the company website. TOO FUNNY! LOL!
"To Ob or not Ob that is the question"
Now that is bloody funny!
I liked when they had the applicator ones long time ago. However these women should go to some other countries then. All they sell in New Zealand are ones without applicators.
They are not hard to find at stores here in Colombia, South America.
Anyone grossed out by this story needs to grow up.
Thank God I had a complete hysterectomy 13 years ago. Wish I could have had it done when I first started my period. Nothing like PAINFUL periods for most of your life!
I hear you Heidi. I had a complete hysterectomy also wish I could have done it years ago.
I'm happy medicine has figured out that there is no reason for a woman to have a period.
Chemical menopause a la regular birth control pills.
Best thing I ever did!
I don't have to worry about things like tampons anymore!
Lucky you, Heidi! I had a tubal ligation last summer and it's made bad periods worse. Though it's completely worth the freedom from fertility for me, as I have never wanted kids, I really wish I'd had everything removed and been done with it. I may still go for that option.
"I hate o.b.," LeahB wrote on the same review site last year. "They're painful, messy and I have never once been able to properly insert the stupid thing."
Her coochie is too big and loose LOL. She needs to do Kegels.
How would you know that? What an idiot comment.
Hey Sunide, phuck ewe
What we need now is a parody of this on south park.
They need to get Chef back for one episode. He's no gynocologist, but I know he would be glad to take a look!
Isaac Hayes is dead.
I saw that episode!
"I don't trust anything that bleeds for five days and doesn't die" - Eric Cartman
Cherokee hair tampons are all natural.
Let me get this straight - $99 for a box of ... tampons.
Women like that don't need tampons - they need a psychiatrist. It's just a plug of cotton and other absorbent material, not the Holy Grail!
TJF,
For a woman it just may be the Holy Grail
I find it absolutely intriguing that a woman could become so attached to a particular brand of tampon.
I never really noticed much difference, besides the applicator.
It's just a fascinating look at human behaviour. The sociology of women willing to pay $99 for a box of tampons LOL
I guess I should applaud those who are doing it for environmental reasons.
But really, I am just confused and surprised. Perplexed. LOL
Good luck, ladies! May your hunting be successful.
To be totally honest please give me a smooth, comfortable plastic applicator any day, and while you are at it, put an OB tampon in it. I don't feel particularly bad about not being green about my feminine hygiene. But OB are the best tampons, except for the lack of an applicator.
Hysterectomy is derived from the Greek word hysteria.
...
The musical apology was just awesome!!! Had to watch it twice.
you realize you can type in all sorts of foul words and it actually displays them....being slightly immature for a bit lol
Inserting a tampon without an applicator is messy and downright near impossible. Why not just wad up some cotton and stick it up there? I cant' believe women are complaining because they can't find a tampon WITHOUT an applicator. Gross.
Speak for yourself, sixx. Apparently they work just fine for millions of women who aren't disgusted by having to interact with their own bodies. Pretty sure that if your preferred brand disappeared from shelves, you'd have plenty to say about it--especially since you're complaining about something that has no effect on you whatsoever.
It's annoying when people automatically assume one is disgusted with their body because they don't want to use a tampon without an applicator. For a lot of us who have extraordinarily messy periods, being stuck in a public bathroom stall and having to wipe your fingers down with toilet paper that is often cheap and sticks to the drying blood on your hands in order to touch the door handle, one's clothing and purse before getting to the sink to wash your hands make an applicator absolutely worth it.
Your choice as to what you use, but I do find it interesting that you would tell someone to speak for themselves and then go on to speak for millions of other women who don't share your preference.
I wonder if some of those plastic applicators I used to take out of my kids' hands at the beach were originally used by sixx. Now, that was gross!