Pantone has launched a new red color called “Period” (“Rules”). The goal ? Fight against the taboo of rules. But does this bright red really reflect the reality of our periods? Not so sure.
A new symbolic step in the fight for the standardization of the rules. This week, the Pantone color chart unveiled the shade of red dubbed “Period”, which literally means “rules” in English. With this strong gesture, carried out in collaboration with the Swedish healthcare brand @intimina, Pantone wants to break the stigma surrounding menstruation and make visible this simply natural function of the body. An initiative certainly marketing, but one can only welcome. It must be said that we have come a long way. The red blood of the rules for a long time was not way in the advertisements. Instead the brands of sanitary napkins used the color blue to denote this liquid. Enough to reinforce a feeling of shame and impurity, a myth associated with menstrual blood still carried in many societies.
Fortunately, things have been moving for some time. There are Nana's committed spots such as Viva la Vulva or Histoires d'Uterus. Recently the brand of period panties Modibodi hit hard, too, with a very explicit campaign. So now is Pantone and its “Confident Red” which aims to help encourage positive conversations about menstruation. This red is intended to "take ownership of your rules with confidence, stand up and passionately celebrate the exciting and powerful life force with which they were born; urge everyone, regardless of gender, to feel comfortable speaking spontaneously and openly about this pure and natural bodily function ".
Read also: the best period panties: our full 2020 comparison
A shade far removed from reality
Communication is perfect. Pantone aims to be inclusive by targeting "menstruating people" and not just women. However, on social networks, things still cringe a little. In question this bright red which has nothing to do with the true color of the rules. Let's admit that this shade is absolutely not the one that is in our panties one week per month. A brown red would certainly have been closer to reality, but maybe less selling. In short, even if it means representing menstrual blood, you might as well do it in a really realistic way. And it’s not the aptly named Media Period which will tell us the opposite.