“We are grow-choice!” is the rallying cry of “The Bush 2020,” a promotional campaign for women’s body care brand Flamingo that doubles as a “Pubic Service” for vaginas everywhere. Pentagram collaborated on the bold and humorous campaign, which combines tongue-in-cheek taglines with graphics inspired by political campaigns, playing off the idea of choice at the core of the Flamingo brand.
The campaign is satirical, but serious: women should be able to talk about how they prefer to care for their pubic hair, whether it’s shaving, waxing, tweezing—or leaving full bush. The launch promotes the new spray-on conditioner Mons Mist and other product lines from Flamingo, which is owned by Harry’s.
As part of its mission to demystify the vagina, Flamingo avoids euphemisms in its brand messaging, using frank, straightforward language that treats its customers with respect and intelligence. The campaign stays true to this approach, making the uncomfortable comfortable with taglines like “All Mons Created Equal,” “No Waxation Without Representation,” and “Fighting for the American Pubic.” The poster typography is set in letterforms of different weights, visually echoing the concept of “grow choice.”
“The challenge was how to bring the idea to life, graphically, given that we’re limited on what can be shown,” says Biz Lindsay, Director of Brand Marketing and Communications at Flamingo. “Varying the weight of the letters makes the concept of choice inherent. No one can tell us to take it down when it’s purely typographic and uses anatomical terminology.”
The campaign launched with a full-page “Pubic Service Announcement” in The New York Times. Flamingo has mounted “The Bush 2020” pop-up campaign headquarters in Soho in New York, modeled after the election command posts of real-life candidates, complete with merch like posters, buttons, stickers, pins, pens—everything except lawn signs (still on the wish list). The installation features a 20-foot high wall of sniped posters, an empowering backdrop for educational programs and informational dialogues about vagina care. The pop-up is located at 357 Canal Street and will be open to the public from October 23 - 27.
