In India, menstruation is the new pop culture hot button but all this chatter does not mean change – especially in the life of a young girl entering menarche. In spite of decades of advertising and outreach, the penetration of pads is at an abysmal 16% pan-India, hovering around only 40% in urban India. According to multiple reports by organisations like UNICEF and Swacch India, less than 10% of Indian women are aware of even the basics of their menstrual cycle & menstrual hygiene.

Stayfree, a sanitary napkin brand from Johnson & Johnson, frames its objective around encouraging more people to learn about menstruation and to talk about it. To make young girls feel comfortable about their periods. Thereby, debunking the taboo and normalising periods in India – for young girls and for everyone shaping their lives.

The idea is to normalise periods even before they begin – through a conversation not just with girls but with young boys. Challenging the notion that periods is a ‘woman’s problem’ and meant to be hidden from men, we focused on shining light on the fact that young boys are deliberately conditioned to see periods as something to be uncomfortable about.

They’re repeatedly rebuked when they ask questions and forced into silence. And eventually their silence simply reinforces pervasive taboos. So if we want our daughters to break free from silence, we will have to talk to our sons.

In India, girls spend a lifetime making periods invisible. But it all starts with the first period lesson. Mothers teach them that periods are meant to be hidden, even from fathers. And fathers look the other way, reinforcing this lesson.

Stayfree understood that normalizing periods begins with men. If men can talk the talk, then there’s no reason left to hide periods. But involving men is easier said than done, when inhibition is deeply-rooted through generations.

So, we asked – where do men learn to ignore periods? It starts at a young age when their questions are ignored and they are rebuked. This conditions them to believe that periods is a woman’s problem and they grow into men who perpetuate the same taboos through their intentional silence. To bridge the gap between inhibition and action, we needed to shine light on the problem where it starts - at the source.

On Daughter’s Day, we released a poignant piece across digital platforms – the story of a lesson in ignorance and denial featuring young boys and their families. It mirrored the everyday reality of Indian homes where boys are taught to not acknowledge periods. The constant reminders present all around them that gradually push them into embracing silence, leading our daughters to learn to be ashamed of it.

The film aimed at taking viewers on a journey inwards, including us. Which is why, before we shot the film, we organised a specially curated session on menstruation for all the child actors, so they could be comfortable with periods and not just for the film.

With the release of the film, viewers – both men and women, started reminiscing their own growing up days. Similar experiences, unsaid rules in a million homes, and how to unlearn them started leading the conversations online.

A film around a taboo topic like menstruation was viewed 4 million times with a VTR of 37% with our core consumer – parents of young boys and girls. The film was shared more than 65,000 times on the meta platforms. And it generated 32 million impressions with a 65% reach across India.

It clocked in 170,000 organic views on YouTube. On LinkedIn, a platform where menstruation isn’t a core topic, it garnered 24,000 views.

We also partnered with Menstrupedia to create an easy to understand 5 minutes tutorials to help parents navigate this conversation with their sons. This material was hosted on the microsite https://www.stayfree.in/talktoyoursons and parents were encouraged to pledge to the cause. Over 51,000 people have visited the microsite since the launch and engaged with the content.

On Stayfree’s normalisation journey, this campaign has proved to be the most liked across platforms – garnering 147,000 likes.