This print ad invites you to cut out and 'make your own sanitary pad'

Readers of U.K. free paper the "Metro" might have been taken aback by a press ad that suggests women "cut out and keep" their own sanitary pad from the paper.

No, it's not the latest print innovation n the vein of Ikea's pregnancy test. Rather, it's a blunt statement that highlights, on a second page, that one in 10 girls in the U.K. cannot afford sanitary products. So, every month they have to resort to using toilet paper, socks, or even a newspaper to do the job instead.

The campaign was created by Adam&Eve/DDB for a new sanitary protection brand, Hey Girls, that gives away a free pack to girls in need for every pack it sells. The brand, which will initially be sold in Waitrose and Asda supermarkets, was launched by Celia Hodson, who was just about to retire from a lifetime working for social enterprises and charities when her two daughters encouraged her to set up the company.

"The lack of appropriate menstrual protection has an impact on school attendance, participation in sports and self esteem," Hodsons says. "Getting Hey Girls period products in front of supermarket customers lifts the lid on period poverty and showcases ways in which consumers can make a difference through their purchasing power, every month."

Both Adam&Eve/DDB and media agency 7stars worked pro bono on the campaign.

The Hey Girls brand launch is the latest in a series of efforts by brands to highlight so-called period poverty; last year, actress Amber Rose starred in an ad with a diamond-encrusted tampon, for U.S.-based Period Equity, that protested "periods are not a luxury."