Tampax Radiant by Procter & Gamble has launched a new campaign designed to educate black women on tampon use. It follows a study conducted by the brand which found that 25% of African American women said that they were not taught how to use tampons. Moreover, two in five African American women wish they had started using tampons sooner in life and 55% said additional information on how to use them properly would be useful.
“Unsafe, uncomfortable, only for sexually active women. After talking with women in the black community across the country, we saw these are some of the common myths associated with tampons,” says Melissa Suk, Tampax Associate brand director at Procter & Gamble. “We found that 42% of black women want to learn more about their periods from African American media and brands. We knew we needed to drive change, but in the right way – with the support of and knowledge from black women themselves.”
Answering the call to provide information tailored to the community, Tampax Radiant launched #LiveRadiant – a campaign curated for black women by black women – and appointed menstrual advocate CeCe Jones-Davis and OB-GYN Dr Kiarra King to aid in reversing cultural taboos and reinforce the importance of having the right information while encouraging the community to have open and honest dialogues about periods.
“So many women are scared to speak up about their periods, especially if they’ve been managing menstrual-related problems for years,” affirms Dr Kiarra King, OB-GYN. “It is shocking to see the number of women who come to my practice and either don’t know how to use tampons or aren’t considering using tampons because of incorrect information or myths they’ve heard. I’m a huge proponent of educating and empowering women so they know their options.”
