Serviceplan France Highlights Menstrual Precariousness in Campaign for Regles Elementaires

Nov. 23, 2020

In a woman's life, period-related expenses average around €8,000 , an amount so high that it sometimes leads the most financially insecure women to choose between their personal hygiene expenses and buying food. So Regles Elementaires teamed up with Serviceplan France on a poster campaign highlighting the problem of menstrual insecurity, which affects 1.7 million women in France. The "Menstrual Credit" campaign highlights a credit to finance periodic protection throughout the life of women. A loan that looks like a real banking product, but that doesn't exist ...yet. 

Although menstrual credit does not exist, the monetary cost of menstruation in a woman's life is a reality: 8,000 euros on average.  In France, 1.7 million women can’t afford such an expense and find themselves in a precarious period of menstruation. 21% of girls and women say, according to the IFOP, that they avoid going to work, school or going out during their period.

Regles Elementaires: the association that wants to put an end to menstrual insecurity

Regles Elementaires was set up in France in 2015 by Tara Heuze-Sarmini to help women in precarious financial situations struggling to afford sanitary protection, and to make this little-known reality known to as many people as possible. This association has a double mission: to collect personal hygiene products for women in need, and to obtain from government authorities free hygiene protection for women in precarious situations.

In order to sensitize public opinion around the topic of menstrual precariousness, Serviceplan France for its part imagined this shocking campaign: a poster campaign aimed at promoting a fictional credit to help finance periodic protection.  The poster campaign advertises an imaginary menstrual credit at the Exceptional rate of 13.7% Fixed APR. The campaign was launched in France on October 29 with around 100 billboards.