These fake sanitary products highlight 'period poverty'

A new campaign in the U.K. highlights so-called "period poverty" by placing items such as socks and tissues into packaging that looks like that for feminine hygiene brands. 

Social enterprise Hey Girls worked with agency Adam&Eve/DDB on the pop-up range, which is called "UNSanitary." It highlights the fact that one in 10 young women in the U.K. are regularly forced to use such unsanitary items in place of real sanitary products because they cannot afford it.

The products were displayed in Asda supermarkets in pop-up stores at the weekend, although they were not actually for sale. 

Also as part of the campaign, homeless charity magazine The Big Issue created a special mini-issue about periods, menstrual products, poverty, activism and the environment. HeyGirls also worked with PR agency 3 Monkeys Zeno on influencer content around the campaign, to be displayed across Clear Channel digital advertising screens in shopping malls.

All of the communication links through to the UNsanitary website, where there is more information about period poverty. “We created ‘UNsanitary’ to provoke awareness about the shocking extent of period poverty in the U.K.," said Celia Hodson, founder of Hey Girls in a statement. "Progress is being made, but we knew we needed to do something drastic for large numbers of people to take notice of what so many women and girls are going through. We hope the campaign will rally businesses and the government to instigate more radical changes."