“It won’t harm the hymen!” – a multimodal critical discourse analysis of the marketing discourse of tampons in China

Tampons, widely used in the West, remain unfamiliar to many Chinese menstruators who mainly use pads. However, evolving gender views in China have driven tampon promotion efforts. This study examines how tampons are portrayed in promotional texts illustrated on China’s largest online shopping platform – Taobao, and how the marketing discourse of tampons reproduces, rejects, and eschews menstrual stigma maintained by Confucian gender ideologies. Adopting a feminist approach to multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA), I explore how once stigmatized menstrual products are now marketed as physically liberating options for menstruators in China. Data were collected from six top-seller tampon brands on Taobao. The analysis shows that tampons are marketed as a high-tech, novice-friendly solution for menstruators in China, whose premarital virginity is preserved despite the use of penetrative tampons. I argue that tampon marketing discourse in China is premised on the menstrual concealment imperative, which frames menstruators’ self-disciplinary practices as socially and physically beneficial, ultimately aligning with local gender norms.