TA - Pharmacy covers women's pictures on toothbrush box

Picture of women on toothbrush box

Woman discovers TA pharmacy covers up pictures of women on Oral B toothbrush box due to haredi clientele

Exclusion of women reaches another level: Mor, a local shopper at a Tel Aviv pharmacy was surprised to discover that a simple Oral B toothbrush with pictures of women on the package was covered up with stickers.

The stickers were not mistakenly placed on the box, but rather intentionally put on the package in order to cover a picture of a woman and a girl.

"I bought a package of Oral B toothbrushes and suddenly saw something strange," Mor told Ynet. "I noticed a sticker on the left side of the package, which looked completely identical to the color of the box but after a closer glance, I could tell it was a sticker."

"I slowly peeled the sticker off the box and suddenly noticed a picture of a woman and a girl. The disguise was perfect – It was very difficult to notice the sticker," Mor added.

"After the incident, I turned to Super-pharm through Facebook and they said that they would refer my question to Procter & Gamble (the product's distributer.)"

"It appears that the toothbrush was intended for the haredi clientele but somehow made its way to the pharmacy's Tel Aviv branch. Do P&G exclude women in Israel?" Mor asked adding that Super-pharm is also responsible for this incident.

The covered product was not found in other pharmacies in town, leading to the assumption that the covered toothbrush was accidentally delivered to the Tel Aviv branch. In other pharmacies, the same product was found with a picture of both a man and a woman smiling.

P&G responded to Mor's complaint, stating that "as an international company, there are several factories who make and package the product and then distribute it to many locations."

"We occasionally package and market our products in order to suit the local clientele. The repackaging can include minor changes in the actual package such as changing the texts and pictures, out of respect to the lifestyle of certain communities. In this incident, the covered toothbrush box was suited to the haredi community in Israel and the package was distributed to several pharmacies in Israel."