“What Feminist Capitalism Can Look Like”: Dame And Unbound Join Forces To Raise Awareness About Sexism In Advertising

After both fighting contentious battles with New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority over banned advertising, sexual wellness brands Unbound and Dame Products are joining forces to raise awareness about what they contend is selective enforcement of ad guidelines to snub products for women.

The brands have launched Approved, Not Approved, a collaborative campaign centered around an interactive website with a short quiz inviting consumers to consider real ads, including many from Dame and Unbound, and decide for themselves whether they’re appropriate for the public sphere. The site is an extension of Unbound founder Polly Rodriguez’s efforts last week to check in with New Yorkers about their thoughts on ads by Dame, Unbound, Hims and The Wing that have been both rejected and approved. Timed with its debut, the brands are putting on a peaceful protest at Facebook’s New York headquarters today, which happens to be National Orgasm Day.

“There are a lot of people in the sex tech space that are women, femme, non-binary, trans and men as well that feel passionate about and are affected by this issue,” says Rodriguez. Speaking about the protest, she continues, “We’ll get to have a dialogue with people and talk about this because it’s something that is hidden. You don’t know what you’re not being allowed to see.”

Sexual wellness brands are facing promotional setbacks at a time when the booming sexual health segment is forecast to reach $40 million globally by 2024. Unbound and Dame report 100% year-over-year growth despite being hampered by ad restrictions from social media platforms and entities controlling ads present in physical venues.

“We’re examples of what feminist capitalism can look like. We have a really similar mission. We’re trying to make the world a better place in a similar way. We realized that, by working together, we can bring more value to more people.”

“Facebook has been a bit more consistent with what they’re saying and a bit more open,” says Dame founder Alex Fine of her brand’s communications with the social media giant. “They’ll get on the phone and talk to me, and suggest I talk to so and so. And, though I feel like I’m getting passed around, I really value that they’re willing to get on the phone with me because the MTA wouldn’t talk to me at all.” Dame has sued the MTA for forbidding its ads.

Rodriguez agrees that the MTA has been the bigger thorn in her side, but emphasizes Facebook and Instagram offer bigger stages for her brand to get in front of global audiences. “The MTA definitely wavered more. It’s really frustrating because Facebook’s so much more integral to our success as a business. They control both Facebook and Instagram. So, I’ve been more disappointed by Facebook,” she says. “The MTA has such a history of doing this. They did it to Thinx. They did it to Dame. They did it to us, but neither one has been easy to work with in any way in my opinion.”

Fine shared that Facebook’s ad restriction practices have impacted Dame’s ability to grow. She recalls, “There were about nine months where my company was running Facebook ads and while we were running those ads, we were able to essentially double our ecommerce business. I was continuing to grow until they started systematically shutting off some of our ads. When some ads were working, that was when my business was most profitable. It felt like we did the work, it was working, and then an external source turned it off on us.”

Competitors Unbound and Dame are proud to stand together to combat common foes. “We’re examples of what feminist capitalism can look like,” says Fine. “We have a really similar mission. We’re trying to make the world a better place in a similar way. We realized that, by working together, we can bring more value to more people. We also acknowledge that we are competitors, and sometimes we can’t share information with each other and, then, that’s OK, too. Polly and I both really respect each other as business women, and I hope I get to compete against Polly for quite some time. And, then, we both sell our business because we both encouraged each other to be better.”

The kinship felt between brands in the sexual health space, especially brands with approved ads Dame is using as evidence of discrimination in its lawsuit against the MTA, is limited, however. Rodriguez and Fine applaud Zachariah Reitano, co-founder and CEO of Roman, for his support. They are less exuberant about Hims. “Roman had been very kind to both of us,” says Fine. Of Hims, which has asked Unbound to partner on content, Rodriguez says, “My personal experience with Hims and Hers had been that they just want to co-opt all of that work and not pay up for any of it. I feel very, very much like Zachariah and the Roman team is really conscious and aware, and Hims does not seem to be as authentic.”