The UK is rather shy about feminine hygiene advertising. Broadcasters and publishers try to ‘hide’ the ads in the less popular spots (no primetime TV or breakfast radio for this category), or the back of the magazine where the other ‘private’ topics are covered.

Censorship and pornification of female genitals have pressurised women to believe their vulva should look a certain way: causing anxiety, shame and growing demand for labiaplasty.

Viva La Vulva celebrates vulvas in all their glorious diversity to dynamite this myth, and show women there’s only one perfect vulva: yours.

Viva La Vulva is a love song to a part of us that doesn’t get enough love.

Set to the iconic track ‘Take Yo’ Praise’ by Camille Yarbrough, it’s a lip-sync music video with a twist, featuring a beautiful diversity of vulvas of every shape and colour, all singing loud and proud to the equally diverse women who love them back.

The film subverts multiple taboos on the way: oysters, conch shells, juicy fruits, cupcakes, the infamous camel-toe that women get regularly shamed for, and we even see Barbie popping up, anxiously looking for her genitals.

The film ends on behind the scene interviews of the cast, opening up about the issue, the shame, the ignorance and reclaiming their bodies.

A toxic cocktail of historical prudery and censorship around women’s genitals, and the recent explosion of porn, have pressurised young women to believe their genitals should look a certain way: the myth of the ‘perfect’ vulva

The intimate care category had historically been so clinical and euphemistic that it enforced these taboos - many women bought and used the products in shame, like a dirty secret.

As a result, almost half of women (44%) admit they feel embarrassed by their vulva, many women ignore what normal looks like (7/10), demand a ‘designer vagina’ (labioplasty is the fastest growing cosmetic surgery in the world), and millions avoid cervical cancer tests over embarrassment, putting their health at stake.

We set out to demolish the conventions of the category and dynamite the myth of the perfect vulva. All to show that there’s only one perfect vulva: Yours.

Viva La Vulva is a love song to a part of us that doesn’t get enough love, featuring 450 animated vulvas in all shapes sizes colours and forms singing loud and proud to the women who love them back. Taking the lip-sync music video to a whole new place, visual effects were key to giving each vulva a personality of their own, not just getting the ‘lips’ to sync by opening / closing in time, but creating a convincing performance for each vulva.

Techniques included stop motion with live-action plates (cupcakes, grapefruit, origami, embroidery, papaya, chalkboard, peach), rigged puppeteering (camel toe, buttons, products), performance puppeteering (fortune tellers, purses, puppets, paper vulvas), and even air jets to make the oysters sing in sync.

Production Direction was critical in creating a new visual language to celebrate the female form in all its beautiful diversity: vulvas in every shape, colour and artistic form singing to the women of all ages who love them back. 450 vulvas appear over 45 scenes against a carefully constructed palette of natural environments and vulva skin tones, all created by an all-female team of artists, illustrators, embroiderers, dress designers, purse makers, puppeteers, food stylists, cupcake chefs, life drawing and balloon artists, motion graphics and special effects, cinematographer and director.