Seven March 2023 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. Kimberly Clark’s Kotex has decided to change the conversation by bringing menstrual hygiene out in the open in a striking, unmissable way.
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 on the activation “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!”
On the conceptualization of the idea, 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.”
Regarding the event, Kila Raipur spokesperson, Colonel Surinder Singh Grewal (Retd.) said, “At Kila Raipur Games, our goal has always been to provide equal opportunities to women and girls – whether it’s by encouraging participation or through equal distribution of prize money. When Kotex approached us with the #PeriodOfChange activity, we felt strongly about the message being communicated through the relay race. Period hygiene is the need of the day, but awareness of new ways of period care, even more essential. We are hopeful that this change that originated from Kila Raipur, not only impacts all women and girls in our village, but also across the globe.”
