Indian company introduces '18-Again,' a vaginal tightening and rejuvenating cream promising to make a woman "feel like a virgin" or "like the first time."

Want to feel like a virgin again? Cream for 'vaginal tightening' sparks controversy...and its excruciating advert will make you cringe

• Indian cream promises 'vaginal rejuvenation'
• Twitter users appalled
• Cream follows India's controversial 'vagina lightening' cream

By MARTHA DE LACEY
DAILYMAIL
PUBLISHED: 15 August 2012

18 Again promises to make a woman 'feel like a virgin' 

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS

The company claims their product 'empowers women', but plenty of women disagree.

The launch of a new 'vaginal tightening and rejuvenating cream' by an Indian pharmaceutical company  has sparked fury among the fairer sex.

Not only have women voiced the opinion on Twitter that 18 Again was created by Ultratech purely to cash in on female insecurities, but many are have criticised the accompanying TV advert.

The advert for 18 Again involves a woman dancing seductively around her husband, repeatedly singing the line 'Ooh, I feel like a virgin'

The awkward commercial, set in an extended family household, involves a woman dancing around the internal courtyard with her husband.

She repeatedly sings lines borrowed and from Madonna's Like A Virgin (but given a Bollywood makeover), including 'ooh, I feel like a virgin' and 'it feels like the first time'.

Her husband grabs her waist and warbles 'oh, yes it's true' while an elderly couple of parents look on, seemingly aghast.

The film ends with a shot of the product, then a clip of the intrigued elderly couple apparently using the internet to order some of the cream for themselves.

Rishi Bhatia, chairman and managing director of Ultratech India, said: '18 Again is a first-of-its-kind product for women in India.

'18 Again has the power and the potential to break the shackles and redefine the meaning of women empowerment altogether.'
[...]
Priti Nair, director of Curry-Nation, the creative agency behind the advert, said: 'This is a one-of-a-kind women-centric product, and the idea is to create a demand for such a product in the Indian market.
[...]
According to online Indian news magazine Tehelka.com, Curry-Nation's account manager Nagessh Pannaswami has said that a tighter vagina is empowering because 'it's not just about sexual pleasure, but also about preventing infection, discharge, urinary incontinence, and making older women feel good'.

But Professor Nivedita Menon of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, condemns the product, saying he finds the idea both 'hilarious and maddening'.

He says: 'The perversity of it all lies in the fact that the gel will be sold as a health issue, as something women "should" do to take better care of their bodies.'

The vaginal tightening cream furore follows an earlier one in April, which came about after the A feminine hygiene product launched in India which promises to 'brighten' skin around the vagina is causing widespread controversy.

A 25-second TV advert for Clean & Dry Intimate Wash, advertised on prime time television, showed a woman using the product to lighten her vagina to please her man.

The product also attracted condemnation on Twitter and blogging sites, with one (male) user branding it 'the ultimate insult', and others bemoaning the extent of discrimination against darker skin tones.

The advertising strapline for the product was: 'Life for women will now be fresher, cleaner and more importantly fairer and more intimate.'

The product was seen by many in India as a sad indictment of discrimination against darker skin within the social caste system.

Columnist Laskhmi Chaudry lambasted the product in her blog, writing: 'The campaign to eliminate the scourge of darkness has extended to every nook and cranny of a woman’s body.'





(videos are property of their respective owners)