'Come on George Osborne you can scrap the tax; Why do you think your box is red?'
Comedians Jenny Bede and Cariad Lloyd have just released a menarche of tampon lols with their new Taylor Swift parody video Bad Blood (End The Tampon Tax).
The video shows an array of brilliant female British comedians proposing tampon alternatives including a winter coat, a potato, flags, a loaf of Soreen or a chopped up rug; all under pseudomenstruonyms like Aunti Flo, Madame Ovary, Jenn Da Bias and Polly Sistic. Sadly, such suggestions aren't terribly different from the real alternatives used by many women in economically developing countries.
'It started as a Facebook thread,' says Cariad. 'I thought it would be funny to do a Bad Blood spoof about periods with a load of female comedians. If there was an Inside Amy Schumer here I'd have pitched it to them but there isn't.’
The thread took off, with more and more women suggesting names and ideas, until eventually Jenny texted Cariad saying they should just do it. ‘Initially we were just being silly but when I started looking into what doesn't have VAT I just got really angry' says Cariad Lloyd. 'It's ridiculous and we just felt that more women should know about this, at least to start the discussion about why we are taxed in this way.'
The video was styled by Imogen Loveday-Brown and directed by music and short film director Adam Brown and, thanks to some great outfits and quite a lot of green screen, looks slicker than a pair of leaking knickers.
‘I just honestly think we have to reclaim periods and stop the shame around them,’ concludes Cariad. ‘This is our blood. In fact, I might put that on a t-shirt’.
Jenny Bede: Don't Look at Me is at Pleasance This - Pleasance Courtyard at 3.30pm until 30 August.
Cariad & Paul: A Two Player Adventure is at Upstairs - Pleasance Courtyard at 11pm from 25th - 29th Aug 2015.
*Like this? Then you might be interested in:
Four Comedians Tell Us What The Deal Is With 'Female' Comedy
Bark, Rags and Newspapers: What Periods Look Like Around The World.
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.