Change Yourself Stayfree!

I am not here to suggest any innovative ideas to Stayfree (Yes! that thing we don’t speak of) to add maybe wheels in place of wings to their products. There is a contest on Indiblogger.in in association with Stayfree called the “Time to change” contest. Apparently Stayfree believes that it is time to bring about a positive change in the world around us. Luckily the prizes on offer for this contest does not include a year’s supply of Stayfree and men are allowed to participate as well.

I closed my eyes to visualize that one thing that I would wish to change. There was an endless flow of sane selfless thoughts like poverty, corruption, education, women’s rights, religious tolerance etc.The list of things that were in front of me was so enormous that I kept switching between ideas back and forth before finally deciding to remain undecided.

I wished to seek “inspiration” by looking at what other’s had written for the contest. There were fabulous multiple entries about every single thought that had occurred to me. I was inspired enough to decide not to write about any of them. I was also shocked to find that nobody had written about how they would want to change the concept of periods and wish that the men had it. At least somebody could have written about making Stayfree really “free” (of cost I mean).

Then I started thinking about the campaign itself. What better way to bring a change than by luring the “Carefree” and “Whisper”ing bloggers to “Stayfree” with an IPad2 and few other expensive gadgets, so that they can together with Stayfree make a difference where it matters the most.! Where? is exactly my question.

I understand that it is a trend for a brand to associate itself with some social cause or elevate the ad-campaigns to a level of activism of sorts. But for god’s sake apply your brains. What is the social impact of this campaign? It is exciting to watch an advertisement of a woman moving a blockade on the road instead of sitting and complaining. It is undeniably exciting to write about all the things that we want to change.  Where is the impact though?

When running a campaign which talks about “Being the change” rather than expecting a change, shouldn’t the ad-men or the brand also have thought about the brand taking the lead and making a change. When a brand associates itself with activism of some sorts they need to be sure about what they are doing. There was campaign earlier by Tata Tea “Jaago Re”, it was a campaign laced with a social message. It worked well because it was all about social awareness and awakening and nothing more. Their job was done once they passed the message of “Jaago Re” to people.

The Stayfree campaign, unfortunately, is about “Being the Change” and I do not see “Stayfree” being the change in any way.

It would have been a veritable campaign

1. Had Stayfree pledged to provide sanitary napkins free of cost to underprivileged girl children or women who cannot afford it.

2. Had they pledged to offer some kind of financial support for some social cause for women, apart from offering prizes or instead of offering prizes

3. Had they used the power of social media to send across a petition to the government for a stronger law for crimes against women. (Might have been symbolic but at least worthwhile)

Brands who do not wish to get into this kind of stuff should not associate themselves with social activism. Definitely not with a campaign about “Being the change” because doing any of the above is going to impact their bottom lines.

Good to see that many bloggers have genuinely written some brilliant posts about things they would like to change, I am sure many of you certainly are being in the change and doing your own little things for the society. Let’s not give into the temptation of such fake social activism campaigns for some recognition and prizes which we get on winning a contest. Bloggers, as part of social media, have the power to bring about a change and let’s us not let the brands exploit it in the name of fake social activism.

Dear Stayfree, live by your campaign and take the lead, it is time to be the change and make some impact, and I would be glad to see that happen! The ball is in your court now.

Oh Yes! and this obviously is an entry to the contest.

Related articles

• Brands exploring blogger engagement campaigns (socialsamosa.com)
• Friday Five: How to Respond to Activism on Your Social Media Presences (edelman.com.au)