People on social media are calling for a boycott of Tampax, the tampon-manufacturing company after it posted a controversial tweet that seemed to sexualize women.

On Monday, the sanitary hygiene brand tweeted: “You’re in their DMs. We’re in them. We are not the same.” The tweet was a parodied take on the classic internet meme that reads, “You are in their direct messages”, meaning to approach someone romantically. It comes with the follow-up remark of “I am…”.

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In a follow-up tweet, they added: “Refused to let Twitter shut down before we shared this tweet”, which was a reference to the instability that the networking platform was facing after Elon Musk’s takeover of the company. 

The tweet from Tampax did not go down well with people on social media, especially women. “This is designed intentionally to gaslight, abuse and destabilise women & girls. Say NO, take your money away from #tampax and anyone else. Men, please help women in this hellscape. This affects society as a whole. #BoycottTampax#gross” one of them commented. 

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Another wrote, “#BoycottTampax

Peak patriarchy: a company making women’s products insults its entire customer base and thinks this is OK. You utter creeps.”

 One more stated, “I’d say you’re pretty much exactly the same as the creepy men in women’s DMs.

Thanks for showing us exactly who you are – good to know you think women’s bodies and the endemic levels of men’s choice to rape us is just a big joke.

#BoycottTampax.”

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Another user remarked, “#boycottTampax a women’s period products company is getting off on the idea of their products being inserted in girls and women – getting there first – while men are chatting them up hoping for sex. Overtones of rape, paedophilia, misogyny – what a hat-trick.”

“You are disgusting. As a clinical psychotherapist, I have never seen a company selling products to women publicly mock women in such a degrading way AND then take glee and delight in doing so. Certainly #clusterB behavior #BoycottTampax,” another user wrote. 

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Tampax US is owned by the multinational firm Procter & Gamble. It has featured Amy Schumer in its promotions. Its website says that its mission is to “make period conversations as normal as periods so women and all who bleed can feel educated, empowered, and limitless every day of the month.”