Cannes Lions

The Missing Chapter - Health & Wellness

LEO BURNETT, Mumbai / PROCTER & GAMBLE / 2022

Awards:

1 Silver Cannes Lions
1 Shortlisted Cannes Lions
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Overview

Entries

Credits

OVERVIEW

Background

In India, every year a whopping 23 million girls, drop out of school, because of one missing piece of information on menstruation.

Menstruation is a topic so taboo that no one in society, not even mothers talk about it. That’s why 71% of girls in India are unaware of periods until they get it. Lack of information makes them believe that a natural process like periods – is a sign of death, disease, shame.

The only place they could have learnt about menstruation is at school. But sadly because of the same taboo even the national council of education never printed this chapter in schoolbooks.

Our objective was to spread period education at scale, to stop generations of girls from dropping out of school.

Idea

MISSING CHAPTER - For the first time in India, we designed a chapter that explains simple biology behind periods to educate girls of India. The chapter also explained ways for girls to manage their period by using pads.

MISSING CHAPTER LOGO: We designed a strong symbol to stand for period education. An amalgamation of both period and education in one unit. For the first time in the country, we told the story of the missing chapter on periods through a bleeding vulva, embedded in a book.

MISSING CHAPTER WALL ART: To reach the girls in media dark areas we used India’s oldest broadcasting medium wall art to spread period education.

PETITION: We launched a petition to add this chapter in schoolbooks and officially make it a part of curriculum.

Strategy

Lack of period education:

Menstruation is a taboo topic in India, such that even mothers don't talk about it. The only place girls could learn about it is at school. But The BREAKTHROUGH moment for us was when we realised that because of the same taboo, the education board never printed the chapter on periods.

Insight: Missing chapter on periods was causing period & female illiteracy.

Key Task: We needed to save girls from dropping out of school by designing, sharing, advocating the chapter on period, making it a part of schoolbooks.

Primary TA: Young girls (12+ years) in metros and rural areas in India, on the verge of entering puberty and at risk to drop out of school.

Secondary TA: Indian citizens, Influencers who wanted to join our cause; Key stakeholders like government ministers with the power to change age old education system; School teachers responsible for imparting knowledge.

Execution

MISSING CHAPTER: We designed a chapter that explains simple biology behind periods and sparked a revolution.

FILM:

We started with a film telling the story of 3 rebellious girls reading the chapter out loud in school, to trigger the conversation nationally.

TV, DIGITAL, RETAIL:

The red piece of paper (the missing chapter) and the bleeding vulva logo became the symbol of our revolution. News channels read the chapter live on prime time TV. We urged Indian citizens to read out the chapter on social media. We used our packs and retail space to take the conversation forward.

OUTDOOR & PETITION;

In collaboration with local artists from 28 states, we adapted the chapter in native art and languages and put it up on 1000 school walls in media dark areas to reach girls in every corner of India. We also launched a petition to make the chapter compulsory part of schoolbooks.

Outcome

In a historic decision, the government committed to change a century-old education system by adding the missing chapter on periods in schoolbooks.

1 million+ Petitions

11 million Girls Given Period Education

2.5 million Packs bought

25 million Views on YouTube

Views on OTT – 3 million

38.5 million people joined the movement

Social media/Digital

13Million reach on social media (more than 2X versus yearly average)

207,000 impressions on the filter (98% from females)

More than 35 Million e-com impressions

PR value – USD 1.3 Million

42% coverage in CAT A publications

Total reach - 14.44 Million

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