When you buy sanitary pads or tampons in Japan, you’ll receive it in a non-transparent bag. Periods are a sensitive topic, so they are kept private. That’s why sanitary products are hidden in such bags. This has been a Japanese custom, as a matter of course. ” But what if this action is keeping the topic of periods a taboo?”

So we set the goal: breaking the taboo around periods in Japan. Making a positive atmosphere allowing people to understand and talk more about periods. As the leading sanitary products brand in Japan.

Unicharm is the first manufacturer who sold sanitary pads in drug stores and ran ads on TV. They have always raised the bar for revolutionizing sanitary products, allowing Japanese women better access to them.

Then we wrote a phrase expressing the will of Sofy as the hashtag “#NoBagForMe(=we don’t need that bag). It became the latest revolution by Unicharm.

Primary targets are women who are Millennials and from Generation Z. We focused on their culture to communicate or work together through using hashtags on social media. With one hashtag, we tried to achieve both branding and promotion (at once.)

Unicharm demonstrated thought leadership toward empowering women through breaking the taboo surrounding periods and women’s health.

The phrase #NoBagForMe is supported by so many and various key opinion leaders, such as a 24-years-old beauty YouTuber to a 50-years-old sociologist: regardless of gender or age. People even used this hashtag spontaneously, which led it spread from online to offline.

We delivered variety of information on periods continuously for years through Twitter/YouTube/note (a major blog platform in Japan). By providing various point of views on periods through interviews with influencers, we succeed to create sympathy with women in various communities.

For a long time, periods were kept private, or more to say secret, and to be endured alone. But this project has changed period from taboo to a major topic on women's QOL.

All actions were aligned with this hashtag: voting campaign for deciding the package design for tampons (for the first time ever in Japan), broadcasting with KOLs on social media such as Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.

In 2019, we prompted people to speak up about their periods through a voting campaign for packaging designs or gathering at actual events. As a result, the quantity of the word “period” being used on social media doubled in a year.

In 2020, with covid-19, we concentrated on social media more than ever. Furthermore, making an entertainment show about periods on TV and an educational program for corporate executives (both for the first time ever in Japan), we encouraged the audience and participants to have conversations with the people around them.

Tier 1:

Gained 500% of coverage within Unicharm compared to previous year on national media, such as TV programs and newspapers. The project and Unicharm was seen as a thought leader in the field of empowering women. Tweets including "periods" had increased by 200% in a year. #NoBagForMe was even authorized by the book “Words of the Year 2020”.

Tier 2:

The perception "periods are not taboo anymore" scored 30% as the biggest number ever in Japan. And over 20 companies such as Uniqlo, Panasonic and more, have participated in the educational program for corporate executive workers produced by the project.

Tier 3:

We grew the trial rate of tampons by 330%, then a youth usage rate by 130% in a year (both were via online information). Finally UN WOMEN Japan gave the award and praised the project as “the most empowering campaign that fought against stereotype".