PERIOD POVERTY SUCKS OVARIES.
What if Santa got his period and couldn’t deliver gifts? That's the reality for nearly 1 in 3 people living in period poverty in Canada and the US, according to our proprietary research with YouGov. They miss work, school, and opportunities. All because they can’t afford a tampon.
That really singed our stockings.
Naturally, we morphed our rage into a pro-bono holiday campaign. In partnership with PERIOD.org – a global non-profit working to eradicate period poverty and stigma – we set out to educate audiences and raise donations.
We introduced a spokesdemon to #DeckTheStalls. Crampus (with a C) is the anti-Santa, hell-bent on bringing tampons, pads, cups and period underwear to those in need. She passionately shares her mission in a long-form video, shorts, wild postings, and social content. She’s not afraid to ask for what she wants: your money. Which she collected at deckthestalls.org with all proceeds going to PERIOD.
It wasn’t all sugarplums and snowflakes, though. Crampus is just like the rest of us. She has no money and no time. Luckily, tons of talented people were passionate enough about the cause to donate their skills. And they all hauled ass to take us from shooting our campaign one week to going live with it the next. We unleashed an advent calendar full of content throughout the holidays. (TikTok just couldn't get enough of our Coochie Cookies.) Once media companies saw Crampus in action, many lined up to donate space or feature her in the news to help us spread the word.
And don’t forget Crampus’s band of elves (aka local PERIOD. chapters). Armed with a how-to guide and donated products, they came out to #DeckTheStalls IRL, hanging stockings filled with free period products in public bathrooms across the United States and Canada. One of them even dressed up like a tampon. Because awareness.
So, what did Crampus bring us for the holidays? Well, she created a groundswell.
With over 12 million video views in just a few short weeks, we saw people getting involved all across the US and Canada. Over 200,000 period products and nearly $500,000 in cash money were donated.
And a partridge in a pear tree. Okay, not really.
But the donations we gathered helped volunteers get out there to #DeckTheStalls with free period products for communities in need. Many business owners around the world chimed in, too, telling us how they were joining the mission to #DeckTheStalls in their own offices, warehouses, and stores to bring a Merry Menstruating to all!
