DDB Mudra India and Stayfree, one of India’s leading menstrual hygiene brands, have released a poignant Daughter’s Day film that underscores the importance of open, healthy conversations about periods within families, helping young girls feel more at ease with their menstrual cycles.
Central to this effort is the need to normalize period discussions among boys in the household. Stayfree encourages parents to start talking to their sons about menstruation early on. This year’s campaign introduces a simple yet impactful idea: ask your son to buy a sanitary napkin. This small action serves as a powerful entry point for families to break down barriers and initiate open dialogues about periods.
Four years ago, Stayfree launched the ‘It’s Just a Period’ campaign, which championed open conversations about menstruation with those closest to a young girl—her family. The campaign sought to dismantle the silence and shame that often surround periods, advocating for a world where these discussions are normalized. Initially, Stayfree focused on fathers, urging them to be a part of these conversations with their daughters. Later, it extended the message with the ‘Talk to Your Sons’ initiative, encouraging parents to teach their boys that “it’s just a period.”
This year’s campaign takes another bold step forward, with the powerful call to action #BetaStayfreeLeAana, signaling the end of generational taboos surrounding menstruation.
The new digital film captures poignant everyday moments in families, conversations between parents and their sons which are heartwarming and relatable. From a mother encouraging her young son to not feel awkward about buying sanitary napkins on a grocery run, to another mother explaining period as a regular and healthy phenomenon for every woman, to a father explaining to his son the need to care for women during their periods, the film sensitively highlights various situations in the household that makes boys feel comfortable with the topic of periods. The film leaves us with a powerful yet very simple message, “When we make our sons comfortable with periods, we make our daughters comfortable with it too.”
Manoj Gadgil, Vice President, Marketing and Business Unit Head- Essential Health, Kenvue, said: “Periods have traditionally been a hush hush conversation limited to the women of the house with male members asked to look away creating a society where periods are seen as social stigma. When one half of the population is kept out this conversation true change in society is impossible. At Stayfree®, we are committed to normalizing period conversations and to create a world where no girl feels shame, fear or discomfort about periods. In our fourth edition, we take a real actionable step by not only urging parents to tell their sons ‘It’s just a period’ but also perhaps to go buy a sanitary napkin for their mother or sister taking a decisive step to end generations of stigma associated with periods.”
Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Mudra Group, said: “Over the years, Stayfree has been committed to normalizing the conversation around periods. And a big cohort in the normalization journey needs to be men. Women feel more uncomfortable because men are not comfortable around the topic of periods. So, a good place to start the conversation is with boys.”
As a part of the new campaign, Stayfree has collaborated with popular national and regional influencers to highlight the important of healthy period conversations in families sharing personal experience of how they have normalised period conversations with their sons. The digital campaign will be seen across Youtube, Meta and leading OTT channels.
Credits
- Brand: Stayfree
- Agency: DDB Mudra Group
- Brand Team: Manoj Gadgil, Supriya Srinivas, Prateek Agarwal, Radhika Hingolikar, Amana S, Gitanjali Sabikhi
- Creative: Rahul Mathew, Siddhesh Khatavkar, Harshada Menon, Rishabh Kallyat, Jyotsna Mohanty, Puru Walanj, Baskar Subbiah Thevar, Kanchi Undevia
- Business: Saad Khan, Pooja Mehta, Snehal Wasnikar, Kanchan Joshi
- Strategy: Shashank Lanjekar, Atreyi Nag
- Films: Jay Gaikwad, Alisha D’souza
- Production House: Mothership Productions
- Director: Gaurav Gupta
- Executive Producer: Kashif Memon
- Producer: Aditya Dighe
- DOP: Linesh Desai
- 1st AC: Roy Gurav
- 1st AD: Rishav Agarwal
- DA: Prachi Arora, Kavya Kashyap
- 2nd AD: Aviral Garg
- Production Design: Ambika Acharya
- Casting: Aashish (Castingwaala Company)
- Actors: Aashiqa, Divya Unni, Tina Bharti, Atharva, Vishal, Aditya Raj, Ambrish, Bhavin
- HMU: Karan Singh
- Sync Sound: Ajay
- Line Producer: Shivnar Konar
- Associate Line Producer : Karan Kandhari
- Production Manager: Mautaseem Khan
- Post Producer: Nikunj Jain
- Offline Editor: Ayrton Pereira
- Music Composer: Amey Ghule
- Sound Engineer: Rishabh Bose
- Online Editor: Satish Patil
- Grade: Mahak (Bridge Post Works)
