More than 2.4 million women and girls in Canada live on a low income, and menstrual products are one of the significant recurring costs they face.
Working with Fire Burns Up, Shoppers Drug Mart, John St., Paus and Sixpenny, I helped develop a discreet way to make free menstrual products available to women experiencing homelessness or financial hardship.
We repurposed newspaper boxes and rebuilt them with code-locked drawers that dispensed boxes of tampons. Access codes were shared with local shelters and outreach programs, allowing them to distribute products directly to the people who needed them.
My work included the electronics and control systems used inside the boxes. Each unit was battery-powered and designed to operate outdoors in difficult conditions, with a low-temperature LCD display, a vandal-resistant piezoelectric keypad, and SMS notifications for low battery levels or low stock.
The project required ongoing maintenance as well as the initial build. That included troubleshooting and replacing damaged components outdoors in temperatures as low as –17°C. A lot of that work happened behind the scenes, with additional time and support from our fabrication partners.
The dispensers are no longer in use, but the project helped bring more attention to period poverty and the need for menstrual products to be treated as an essential item.
Awards
2018 Advertising & Design Club of Canada Advertising, Direct — Gold Advertising, Experiential — Silver