Kimberly Clark’s Kotex, a leading menstrual hygiene brand in the world, has teamed up with Ogilvy India to change the conversation surrounding menstrual hygiene by bringing it out in the open in a striking, unmissable way
As India witnesses a robust development and growth making it a prominent emerging market on the world stage, menstrual awareness and education still remains an area for improvement. With deep-rooted cultural shame and associated stigma, periods are not spoken about openly. Menstruation poses particular challenges to young women living in India due to high levels of menstrual stigma, thus resulting in reduced quality of life for young girls and a constant hindrance in their progress.
At India’s longest-running rural Olympics, The Kila Raipur Sports Festival 2023, Kotex organized a relay race where instead of the usual baton, young women athletes passed an open sanitary pad, creating a disruptive conversation around periods.
To drive views to this unique event, an integrated approach was utilized with the race and the winning ceremony documented on video. The video featured inspiring moments from the race, bytes from the participants & organizers, and reactions from the audience.
Saakshi Verma Menon, Marketing Director, Kimberly – Clark India, said: “As a pioneer in feminine hygiene globally, Kotex believes that a period should never come in the way of any women’s progress. In a country like India, where there is no dearth of talent and grit within our women, the taboo and stigma within society around periods is what hold’s us back from championing their progress! It is about time that we normalize periods and support our women in breaking the glass ceiling. At Kotex, we don’t just make pads, we actively identify problems women face when it comes to periods and tackle them with revolutionary solutions. Our disruptive new launch of Kotex ProHealth+ Sanitary Pads will end the old cycle of choosing between singular benefits and give young girls a chance to elevate to Healthy Period Protection. Because we truly believe – Period Or Not, She Can!”
Kainaz Karmakar and Harshad Rajadhyaksha, Chief Creative Officers Ogilvy India, said: “Even in 2023, periods are still not spoken about openly. But today the young girls of India are braver, freer, and ready for change. Partnering with brand Kotex that has always stood for change, healthy period protection and women’s progress, we held #PeriodOfChange – the world’s first relay race where young girls passed a sanitary pad to each other, instead of a baton. They did this in front of a stadium full of people at India’s longest running sports fest – the Kila Raipur Sports Festival. With Kotex #PeriodOfChange we hope to inspire more and more people to bring periods out from behind closed doors and turn this into an open conversation.”
Source: Campaign Brief Asia