Marketing in taboo categories like body hair grooming and sexual wellness presents unique challenges, even during designated holidays like 420 or Sexual Wellness Month. For the latter, this year we saw everything from influencer campaigns to brand partnerships to a collaborative giveaway with my company, Meridian Grooming, and like-minded wellness brands LOLA, Hanx, Champ and Hello Cake.
While marketing around taboo topics like sexual wellness, body hair grooming, cannabis and alcohol has its difficulties (particularly on social media), there are plenty of strategies brands operating in provocative categories can implement to see success. The underrated upside of marketing in a “taboo” industry is that the products and content campaigns are inherently more stand-out and buzzy than those on the more traditional side of CPG marketing, like makeup, cameras, home decor, etc.
It’s up to the brands in these industries to get creative and capitalize on the opportunities in front of them, while also leading conversations to destigmatize the topics that they champion.
Higher Risk, Higher Reward
With brands doing all kinds of buzzy activations and campaigns these days, it’s more important than ever to stand out among competitors and to consumers on social media in general. While stepping outside of the box can feel risky, we’ve seen in the marketing world that higher risks equal higher reward time and time again. E.l.f. Cosmetic’s “so many dicks” campaign calling for diversity in boardrooms and Adidas’ explicit sports bra campaign are just two great examples of this.
Brands like ours, operating in taboo spaces, must lean into this mentality—leveraging breakthrough moments without losing sight of authentic, meaningful messaging. This “breakthrough” is imperative for all brands, but it’s even more important for brands with less marketing muscle. An incredibly persuasive message fizzles out if nobody actually notices it—more provocative and interesting is the name of the game so long as it authentically fits your brand equity.
To celebrate Sexual Wellness Month this year, Meridian partnered with a panel of sexual wellness experts to offer free sex therapy for the month of September through a submission portal where consumers could anonymously submit their burning sex questions. The campaign as a whole dove into some highly personal topics that were a big step outside of the brand’s typical marketing comfort zone, even as a company that talks about everything personal grooming and body hair.
Using Multiple Channels to Your Advantage
Social media is rapidly becoming the priority marketing channel for DTC brands, but can definitely be a tougher channel to see success in when it comes to taboo topics like sex and below-the-belt grooming. This is usually thanks to each social platform’s different content censoring rules and regulations, which is a major barrier brands need to be cautious of when planning social media content and multi-channel campaigns. Meta for example, does not allow ads or sponsored posts that promote the sale or use of adult sexual arousal products, like sex toys, in their health and wellness policy. This poses extreme challenges for brands in the space to attract new consumers.
Brands must avoid being exclusively reliant on social media for building awareness and need to take a multifaceted, omni-channel approach for marketing around taboo topics to expand reach and ensure content is reaching the right audience. Of course, social media can still be a part of marketing strategy—it just requires a bit more creativity. Partnering with influencers who both already had great experience talking about sexual wellness on social media and had a foundational knowledge of these regulations can be incredibly helpful.
Authentic Partners Are Key
Brands should always strive to find creators that align with their mission and priorities, but this is even more important when the content will revolve around more sensitive and personal topics. Personal, down-there grooming, for example, can be a difficult topic to be open and honest about publicly, and engaging the wrong creators to lead these conversations can be detrimental to marketing strategy.
Authenticity is a key quality consumers look for when choosing what content to consume and trust, and controversial topics make it even easier to gauge authenticity of creators’ content. It’s important to note that this added spotlight on authenticity applies to not just influencer partners but larger brand and celebrity partnerships as well.
Overall, brands should not shy away from taboo campaigns. As long as the right approach is taken, it can be a great way to stand out from the pack and capture consumer attention in an authentic and engaging way.
Mike Thompson is CMO of Meridian and Lumin.
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