Hi! I’m Sofia, a 16-year-old girl from Costa Rica. Let me tell you a story about girls in my country.

While Costa Rica prides itself on being an example of equality and progressive social policies, many of us silently face menstrual poverty.

Yes, for many families here menstrual products cost 27% of our weekly income, and 1 in 10 of us in Latin America miss school for not having the resources to pay for menstrual products.

Luckily non-profits like Nosotras Women Connecting fight for our rights and helped write a bill to eliminate the unjust luxury taxes from menstrual products (13%) and give them away for free in schools, allowing us to keep attending classes with our periods.

Sadly, years passed and no one in congress was talking about this important bill, so we created a bold campaign to get congressmembers’ attention and convince them to make it a law.

Politicians thrive on public approval. However, they are known for over-promising and not for over-doing.

If we wanted to make congressmembers pass a forgotten menstrual justice bill, unknown by most, we needed to tap into their deepest hearts’ desire: popularity.

To make them publicly commit to passing this bill, we needed to create the illusion that the approval of this law was a public demand capable of boosting their popularity, though a creative multi-media campaign that generated social pressure.

However, to make congressmembers “walk the talk” we needed to finally pressure them in a place they couldn’t ignore us: their phones. The use of peer-pressure and the desire of politicians to socially look good, would secure the approval of a law capable of changing girls’ and women’s future forever.

Our target was clear: The Costa Rican congressmembers capable of approving our bill.

Our strategy consisted of 2 key elements: 1- Creating the perception that passing this menstrual justice bill was important for everyone 2- Convincing congressmembers to approve it.

First, we needed them to think that passing this bill was something all Costa Ricans wanted, though a multi-media and PR campaign; but needed to be strategic in how we used each media creatively to reach the politicians, making it look massive with only $50,000. Achieving their public commitment.

However, to make them act and stop ignoring us, we would focus on what really grabs their attention: Their phones. Creating a WhatsApp group with all of them, called “Thanks Congressmembers”.

The personal nature and peer pressure of a group chat, with girls thanking them in advance for helping an issue of national interest, would convince them this approval benefited them.

We kicked off our campaign with a high-visibility guerrilla stunt, using a symbolic national monument to generate initial buzz, with coordinated coverage from media and influences. This started a national debate on menstrual justice.

We then partnered with the most important media in the country, getting free media spaces and using them creatively: Airing 30 minutes of national TV with a pad-shaped filter, using large-scale billboards to collect signatures, creating an empty school chairs art exhibit inside congress, and much more.

Our campaign sent audiences to our microsite, where we linked to each congressmember’s social media, and emphatically urged people to directly contact and confront them on their position regarding our bill.

Then, we went direct, creating a WhatsApp group with all congressmembers, greeting them with a video from us girls thanking them each, by name, in advance, for passing this important bill.

Our massive to direct execution finally worked!

On October 26th, 2023, just 5 days after we created the WhatsApp Group, but almost 3 years after our bill was written, our menstrual justice bill was brought for a vote and passed unanimously!

Apart from passing a law that removes luxury taxes from menstrual products and gives them away for free in schools, we generated other unexpected results.

Our $50,000 generated media, PR, and influencer coverage worth $4,000,000 in the first month alone, this figure represents the six-month media budget of Costa Rica’s biggest advertiser, reaching 90% of the population.

We were surprised that only 4 out of all the congressmembers left the group, and many publicly thanked us for generating this massive movement.

Ultimately, we helped promote one of the most basic human rights for us women: Menstruating with dignity.

We hope to motivate other countries to follow our footsteps and use creativity to achieve lasting social change.