Period Red – Pantone Creates Awareness for Menstruation
The U.S. Institute Pantone has launched a new shade of red to end the stigma of menstruation. The aim is to break the taboo surrounding menstruation with a color named “Period Red”. The development of this shade of red is intended to encourage both women and men to talk openly about the period and related issues of social injustice.
Header image by Pantone
Every new color that Pantone publishes or even just mentions promptly turns into a trend. Now the institute uses its popularity for social issues. This special topic, menstruation, does not only concern a specific group but humanity in general.
Pantone Makes a Strong Statement
“Period” is the name of the new shade launched by the US company Pantone. The blood red hue is meant to encourage women to be proud of their menstruation and not see it as taboo that is not talked about. The campaign is the result of a collaboration with “Intimina“, a Swedish brand that releases menstrual cups and other women’s health products. This “active and adventurous shade of red” was also developed in cooperation with a gynecologist and consulted research published in Medical News Today, according to the company’s Instagram account.
Campaign Wants to Encourage
It is time to stop treating the period as a big secret and to be open about it. In some cultures, a menstruating woman is even considered impure. Although about every second person in the world menstruates sooner or later, our society often acts as if periods do not exist or are something to be ashamed of.
This is why the colour serves for the banner for Intimina’s “Seen+Heard” campaign, which is designed to empower and encourage everyone, regardless of gender, to have more accurate and honest conversations around menstruation. Danela Žagar, Intimina Global Brand Manager, says:
“Despite the fact that billions of people experience menstruation, it has historically been treated as something that shouldn’t be seen or talked about publicly. And if we look at popular culture, depictions of periods have ranged from wildly inaccurate and unsympathetic to being the subject of jokes and derision.”
Millions of people suffer from this stigma, which always has different appearances: From unsettling jokes about menstruation, to unrealistic portrayals of period blood in advertisements (often depicting it as a blue liquid), to actual exclusion of menstruating people, as is still common in some countries today. Access to menstrual products is also still limited, which is why young people in many places are repeatedly forced to miss school lessons.
A new colour may not change all that, but it draws attention to the fact that menstruation is a normal, everyday part of life – not something that is shameful, dirty or bad. The colour aims to be viewed like a symbol rather than an accurate representation, because blood can have different shades of red that also change during menstruation.
The people are mostly pleased with the colour company’s effort, but some think Pantone got it a bit wrong when choosing the hue. What do you think? Let us know your opinion in the comment section!
