Photo by: asco

So, for a good long while now I have been fairly disgruntled by the ads that have been recently popping up on television about Always feminine hygeine pads.

They mention that many girls in Africa skip school when they are on their period, and this isn’t good. Fair enough. However, they have started a campaign in which a percentage of proceeds from Always pads will go to supplying these girls with pads, in Africa.

 I have looked into this a little bit, because my initial reaction was that this was simply a sad attempt to make naiive female consumers feel a little better about themselves when they bought their pads next month.

Yet, this article makes the Always claim seem rather legit, and it must be, after all…I don’t think Always could get away with lying so obviously!

My problem then is not that they are going to help people that don’t need it, but rather about the methods in which the help is being provided.

Aren’t Always essentially trying to solve a foreign problem with a “Western” alternative? Are sanitary pads not extremely wasteful? Do these African villages have the means to even dispose of this additional waste? Are we not simply imposing our culture upon theirs?

 I am just upset that they didn’t think of supplying these girls with something more along the lines of this. It’s much more environmentally friendly, sustainable, and it actually works!

I guess I will have to continue my research. There are just so many things about this campaign that I think could have been researched and planned much more effectively.

Thoughts?