RED ALL OVER
Posted by Deirdre | Filed under Blog
The Pantone Colour Institute has partnered with Swedish feminine products brand Intimina to release a custom Pantone red color to represent menstruation. Period, as the new shade is called, was created to front Intimina’s Seen+Heard campaign which aims to empower and encourage people, regardless of gender, to talk in more detail about menstruation. Intimina calls the colour an “original shade of red that represents a steady flow.”
Based in the U.S., Pantone developed its first colour matching system in 1963 to allow designers to ‘colour match’ specific colours when a design enters production stage. This latest collaboration is meant to break the stigma surrounding a natural body function.
Says Laurie Pressman, Vice-President Pantone Color Institute from Pantone, “An active and adventurous red hue, courageous Period emboldens people who menstruate to feel proud of who they are.”
Danela Žagar, Intimina Global Brand Manager, hopes the new colour will make menstruation more visible and accepted as a topic for positive conversations in the culture at large.
“Despite the fact that billions of people experience menstruation, it has historically been treated as something that shouldn’t be seen or talked about publicly. And if we look at popular culture, depictions of periods have ranged from wildly inaccurate and unsympathetic to being the subject of jokes and derision.
“Enough is enough, it’s 2020. Isn’t it time periods stop being considered as a private affair or a negative experience? Isn’t it time we call out people that try to perpetuate the stigma surrounding periods? Or those that mock it? Isn’t it time we come together to encourage period positivity and make sure periods are seen and heard?
“That’s what we aim to do with our campaign and it’s been brilliant to have The Pantone Color Institute lend their support as we launch it by creating an original red colour emblematic of a steady flow during menstruation,” Žagar says.