Hasta La Creative!

Get back in the conversation. With Eargo you’ll hear every word—even if you wish you hadn’t.

The Union has created a new groundbreaking campaign for the Scottish Government to challenge the stigma around periods and encourage greater openness and honesty. The integrated campaign is aimed at 16-24 year olds. The ‘Let’s Call Periods, Periods’ advertising shows how, as a society, we use all kinds of different expressions to avoid using the word ‘periods’, which is, after all, a natural bodily function experienced by more than 50% of the population. Research shows that more than a third of women in the UK have experienced period shaming through bullying, isolation or ‘time of the month’ jokes. Nearly half of UK women said they felt embarrassed the first time they got their period. Over half said they hide period products when carrying them to the toilet so as not to embarrass others, and 43% said they did this because they thought people would embarrass them or make jokes. Stigma can lead some people to feel too embarrassed to talk about periods, which can cause them to miss school, college, university or work. By starting an open conversation around periods, the campaign seeks to make everyone feel more comfortable talking about periods. Scotland’s Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said: “Since we launched our world-leading action to make access to period products free in all schools, colleges and universities in 2018, I have seen and heard about many brilliant examples of students and schools challenging the stigma and making it easier for everyone to talk about periods. We don’t want this momentum to stop and that is why we have launched this innovative campaign to make everyone feel more comfortable discussing periods with their friends, family and others. Ultimately, this is about dignity and respect and being more open. The stigma associated with periods needs to disappear. It has been amazing to see so many people take part and support this campaign and to hear about their own experiences, so many of which are all too familiar. It’s time we all call out the stigma and call periods, periods.” Lyndsay Snoddon, Account Director at The Union, said: “This was a challenging campaign to develop, as we had to ensure we got the message across with the right tone and in such a way as it resonated with our audiences. Consequently, there was a lot of careful work done at the insight gathering and creative development stages, which involved testing various approaches. Our Planning and Creative teams did a brilliant job and we’re delighted with the outcome.” The national campaign will run across cinema, TV, print, outdoor and online advertising, with Instagram being used as hub for conversations to happen and content to be shared. The production company for the TV commercial was Fond Films, directed by Rose Hendry.