Words like periods, menstruation, pads, and vaginal hygiene are not spoken in hushed voices anymore. We have come a long way where women are now vocal about these topics and are comfortable sharing their stories to create awareness. Why more and more women joining the bandwagon is because of new age niche brands providing them the platform to speak. New age brands are regularly seeding such awareness campaigns and advertisements with an objective to aware the consumers out there.
Below are a few brands which has helped in breaking a few stereotypes around women related topics by their efforts:
- Busting the myth- Using thin pads while Heavy Bleeding: RIO Heavy Flow Pads by Nobel Hygiene – RIO is the first brand in the country which breaks the ‘blue blood’ rule of sanitary pad ads with it’s TVC showing red blood in the communication. They collaborated with actress Radhika Apte for the advertisement. The brand did so to bring forth an important and often neglected topic of “Heavy Flow” during periods. And also to normalise talking about periods by taking a step to resolving the decades-old misleading practice of showing blue liquid instead of blood in sanitary napkins commercials.
- Breaking the taboo-Conversation around PCOS: OZiva, clean plant based nutrition – Because of symptoms like hormonal imbalance, irregular periods, infertility, the concept of PCOS although common in women has not been spoken about openly. OZiva, a clean plant based nutrition brand launched the second edition of #myPCOSstory campaign along with celebrities like Shruti Haasan, Divyanka Tripathi and Vidya Malavde joining the movement to spread awareness around the disorder and to encourage women to openly speak about it. September is considered to be a PCOS awareness month and they are doing their bit in spreading awareness through their campaign and also encouraging others to talk about it.
- Breaking the Taboo- Conversation around importance of vagainal hygiene: PeeSafe – Female hygiene has been a concerning issue in our country. Contracting UTI every time one visits a public washroom is a sadly common complaint for women. PeeSafe not only saw the seriousness of the issue but soon after introduced Toilet Seat Sanitizer Spray which managed to save millions of women across the country from the risk of contracting UTI. Gradually, they identified the need for many hygiene essentials and took it upon themselves to talk about things that are usually hushed in our society.
- Busting the myth – Teenagers can use the same cosmetics as adults: Super Smelly – India’s only 100% toxin-free personal care brand for Gen Z, Super Smelly engaged with the audience across India to raise awareness on colorism issues and other stereotypes. The CEO and Co-Founder of the brand, Ms. Dipali Mathur Dayal spoke with the teens and tweens on social media and educated them about healthy skin and body positivity through live interactions and chats. Promoting the idea of being super naturally, Super Smelly connected with people who look for vernacular content, initially focusing on Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil audience and further also collaborated with celebrity faces like Alaya Furniturewala, Harleen Kaur, Sonali Swami, and Palak Sidhwan.
