72andSunny New York, working with several nonprofits and brands, draws attention to a public health issue
This sugary product isn’t actually a delicious part of a complete breakfast. It’s fictional. And its musical launch commercial—featuring a sassy, upbeat ear worm—isn’t as lighthearted as it may sound.
Loopholes the cereal and “Loopholes” the campaign have been created to draw attention to a serious health problem in America: lack of access to period products like tampons and pads.
The goal of the work, which aims to mobilize the public, is to pressure U.S. lawmakers to support the Menstrual Equity For All Act, securing federal funding to put period products on par with food and other basic necessities.
Creative agency 72andSunny New York tackled the brief, from a group of nonprofit organizations, by coming up with a fake cereal stuffed with “a cycle’s worth” of period products as the “prize” inside.
For its hero ad dropping on International Women’s Day, the shop kept the satirical theme going with a mix of live action and cute animation. The jaunty soundtrack includes the following lyrics, “The government helps people buy food with SNAP, but no one’s helping us buy tampons—they don’t give a crap.”
And the message begins to gel even more with the final line of the song: “When we demand legislation, we’ll fix the situation, and we won’t need anymore loopholes.” And then the voiceover kicker: “Loophole cereal, part of an unbalanced society!”
A handful of groups are behind the PSA, including Period, Free the Period, Ignite, No More Secrets and The Flow Initiative, which have identified period poverty as a national issue. They’re joined by sustainable period care brand August and plant-based cereal, OffLimits.
“Access to period products is a matter of human rights, especially as these products are used monthly by over half the U.S. population,” Michela Bedard, executive director of Period, said in a statement. “We need national policy change to address systemic period poverty, including the ability to use public benefits to purchase products.”
Cost can be prohibitive, the partners said, forcing people to make the choice between buying period products and paying for everyday necessities.
“It’s 2022 and yet the majority of U.S. states still have a ‘tampon tax,’ an unfair added sales tax on period care, considering tampons and pads ‘non-essential’ goods,” Nadya Okamoto, cofounder of August, said in a statement.
Creatives at 72andSunny, drawing on research that found 1 in 4 menstruators struggled with access to period care products, said there are wide-ranging consequences to period poverty.
“It leads to missed days of school, it affects job performance and leads to physical and mental hardships—it touches entire families,” Elaine Cox, executive creative director at the agency, said in a statement. “The solution is not a mystery.”
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