Bloody good ideas Kotex can learn from Fintech
Kotex has always had a special place in my heart. And in (or under) my vagina. For a long time, it was my go-to for tampons and sanitary pads.
The Kimberly-Clark owned brand is over 100 years old and is said to have started the whole period industry as we know it (Eshner, 2018). What’s interesting is that when it was first introduced, it was considered a high-tech invention that was inspired by military products. During World War One, Kimberly-Clark — then a paper company — created bandages with a new material made from wood pulp called cellucotton (Harford, 2020). When the war was over, army nurses wrote letters claiming they used cellucotton as makeshift sanitary napkins, since they were five times more absorbent than cotton (Eshner, 2018).
The rest was history.
This origin story inspired me so much that I decided to pick Kotex to write about for my Hyper Island Industry Specialization module. I loved the fact that Kimberly-Clark adopted transdisciplinary thinking before it was even a thing.
I also chose Kotex because, like 1.8 billion others out there (“Menstrual Hygiene”, 2021), I menstruate.
Frankly speaking, I’m saddened by the fact that periods are taboo in many parts of the world (Das, 2015) and even argued to be a source of social stigma for those who have it (Johnston-Robleo and Christler, 2013). To make matters worse, a minimum of 500 million people experience period poverty every month (Randolph, 2020).
I believe that this normal, natural, and necessary bodily function should be respected, just as how some Hindus respect the menstruating goddess Kamakhya (Sood, 2019).
For this piece of writing, I won’t just refer to girls and women, but instead focus on people who menstruate, to ensure I don’t exclude individuals who have a menstrual cycle but don’t identify as female.
Without further ado, here are some bloody good ideas Kotex can learn from Fintech, to help it thrive for hopefully another 100 years.
1. Use blockchain technology to trace period products
In 2018, Kimberly-Clark recalled some of its Kotex tampons in the United States and Canada, after a quality-related defect caused them to come apart during removal (Thomas, 2018). Users suffered vaginal irritation, infection, injury, and some even had to seek medical attention to remove tampon pieces left in the body (“Kimberly-Clark Announces,” 2018). As someone who uses Kotex tampons from time to time, this is truly the stuff of nightmares. I believe blockchain technology could be used to ensure that a Carrie-level scary situation like this never happens again.
Blockchain isn’t just another buzzword. The breakthrough technology might still be a mystery to most, but it’s consistently delivering real-world value beyond just the Fintech industry. The first thing everyone needs to know is that blockchain isn’t Bitcoin — it’s the technology invented to record Bitcoin (Söze, 2017). Simply put, blockchain is a specific type of database that stores data in blocks, which are then chained together in a chronological order (Conway, 2020). It’s a distributed ledger on a network whose transactions cannot be erased or altered (Strawn, 2019).
Initially conceived in 2008, there are different types of blockchains out there today: public, permissioned and private (Laurence, 2017). Over time, its applications have evolved from focusing on cryptocurrencies, to implementing smart contracts, to moving away from finance transactions by embracing other sectors (Gatteschi et al., 2018). Some interesting uses of blockchain technology out there are in music, diamonds, fine art, endangered species protection, advertising, and even LGBTQ+ rights (“50+ Examples,” 2018).
Another big player in the period industry, Tampax, already uses blockchain technology to allow users to trace the origins of the organic cotton used in its products with their phones (“Our Sustainability,” 2021). If Kotex doesn’t adopt the same approach to guarantee product traceability all the way through the supply chain, it risks getting left behind — particularly in an age where customers expect more from brands. It’s not enough for Kotex to ensure that its products are safe to use, but it should also strive for sustainable practices and ethical sourcing of materials.
To me, it makes complete sense that blockchain technology be used for things as important as period products — especially because some out there believe that it’s an inherently feminine way to move value across the world. Nyla Rodgers, the founder of Mama Hope, theorizes that Satoshi Nakamoto (the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin) is female because she feels that the blockchain is more like a woman due to its collaborative, inclusive, values-driven, and community-centered characteristics (Joffrion, 2018).
Total disclosure. While blockchain technology can certainly innovate, it isn’t a magic bullet for everyone. Some disadvantages are that it usually takes up high power consumption for implementation, requires additional space, can be buggy, and more (Gatteschi et al., 2018). Due to the fact that blockchain encompasses a wide range of applications, it definitely has broad ethical and social implications that deserve more research (Yong et al., 2019).
That said, I feel the pros outweigh the cons in this scenario. Blockchain is immutable, distributed, public, secure (Tapscott and Tapscott, 2017), and it can also cut days to minutes, making things more cost-saving since time is money (Strawn, 2019). No matter what it’s used for, the benefits derived from using the technology remain unchanged: transparency, security, traceability, and efficiency (Hooper, 2018).
There are several questions that must be asked when evaluating blockchain adoption to see if it’s worth it for an organization (Morkunas, Paschen and Boon, 2019). They are:
- Will blockchain help reach new customers, strengthen relationships, and increase sales?
- Will blockchain help serve customer needs better and offer more value?
- Will blockchain let the organization compete more effectively?
For Kotex, the answer is a unanimous yes to all of the above.
2. Create a cryptocurrency to tackle period poverty
Period poverty is when people who menstruate are unable to afford the basic necessity of sanitary protection (Astrup, 2017). It can impact their mental well-being (Cardoso et al., 2021), school attendance, safety, health, and even social interactions (Schuyler, 2020). It’s something that Kotex and other menstrual companies have been trying to eradicate — because it can be incredibly isolating, upsetting and degrading (Rimmer, 2018).
Together with Alliance for Period Supplies, Kotex conducted a survey that showed that one in four people in the United States struggle to purchase period supplies due to a lack of income (Broster, 2020). In developing countries, that number is even higher. When the Covid-19 pandemic made things worse, Kotex donated one million menstrual pads and panty liners, in addition to its annual commitment to fight period poverty (“U by Kotex,” 2020).
I think creating a menstrual cryptocurrency is a viable way for Kotex to tackle period poverty and make sanitary products free or more affordable.
Cryptocurrencies are considered a remedy against poverty, as they allow people who can’t open a regular bank account to participate in financial transactions via an internet-based account operable from any smartphone (Dierksmeier and Seele, 2018). Bitcoin was actually created with the intention of bridging the global wealth gap in the midst of the Great Recession of 2008 (Cheong, 2019).
Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency there is. After its early success, altcoins exploded onto the scene (Luther, 2015). Currently, there are over 4,000 cryptocurrencies in existence (Conway, 2021). Some of the ones that I have are Ethereum, Cardano, Polkadot, and Zilliqa. There are several odd ones out there too, like PotCoin, PutinCoin, Garlicoin, Whoppercoin, and the original weird cryptocurrency based off of a Shiba Inu meme — Dogecoin (Marvin, 2018).
Others are already using crypto to help out the less fortunate. In 2019, the philanthropic arm of Binance distributed 1,100 Pink Care Tokens and delivered 1,100 packs of reusable sanitary pads to 1,100 girls in Uganda (“Binance Charity,” 2019). There’s also a nonprofit called GiveCrypto, that allows people to donate cryptocurrency directly to those living in poverty (GiveCrypto, 2021).
My idea is for Kotex to take inspiration from those two earlier examples and create an altcoin that anyone can use to donate period products, redeem them for free, or buy them at low prices, without the pink tax. Pink tax is the extra amount that women pay for everyday products like razors, shampoo, clothes, and more (Dreher, 2019).
Creating a cryptocurrency wouldn’t be that difficult for Kotex to do, since there are many publicly available resources teaching people how to do so. However, what’s challenging is for the brand to ensure that the new cryptocurrency would be used ethically. Cryptocurrencies are sometimes condemned as downright evil because they can facilitate nefarious commerce that involve weapons, drugs, and sex, since they often escape regulation or public scrutiny (Krugman, 2013). This dark web aspect of the altcoin world is what has received the most attention in popular media (Dostov and Shust, 2014).
If Kotex chooses to go through with this, quite a bit needs to be done to teach people how the cryptocurrency even works. Many still find Bitcoin baffling, so introducing a new altcoin would require a lot of education. Even prominent financial blogger and chief executive of New York investment advisory firm, Ritholtz Wealth Management, Josh Brown said that he didn’t fully understand crypto or where it’d go before he dived in (DeCambre, 2017).
To educate people about the new cryptocurrency, I think creating a television series or film would be a cool way to do it. We’ve recently seen how successful it can be, especially after the Period. End of Sentence. film on Netflix made (crimson) waves and even won an Oscar (Aizenman, 2019).
3. Get robo-advisors to help normalize periods
As mentioned before, menstruation stigma is still prevalent in numerous countries.
Times are a changin’, but there’s still much to be done. Normalizing periods is crucial when it comes to achieving gender equality — the United Nations’ fifth Sustainable Development Goal (“Gender Equality,” 2021).
When the Kotex brand was introduced in 1920, the stigma attached to menstruating required products to be sold behind a pharmacy counter in plain blue boxes (“Kotex Brand,” 2020).
100 years on, things are vastly different. These days, Kotex runs the She Can initiative to ensure that periods and related stigmas never get in the way of progress (“Kotex She,” 2021). The brand also bravely broke the tradition of using ubiquitous blue liquid in period ads and used a red, blood-like liquid to launch its new sanitary pads instead (Pasquini, 2020).
Even though Kotex is doing its part, competitor brands are also fighting to end the stigma. Intimina, which creates menstrual cups, collaborated with Pantone last year to create a bold and daring red shade called Period, that matches the color of a healthy menstrual flow (“The Creation,” 2020).
Despite the fact that we seem to be having a menstrual liberation, with free-bleeding movements and all, there are still certain questions people who menstruate are too shy to ask. If we’re embarrassed to talk to humans about the time of the month, would it be easier for us to talk to robo-advisors instead?
I think so.
Robo-advisors are computer algorithms that provide automated financial advice with little to no human intervention (Hodge, Mendoza and Sinha, 2020). They’re probably the most important disruptive trend in wealth and asset management today (Beketov, Lehmann and Wittke, 2018). Some even say they’re a valid alternative for those seeking investment advice, as they’re less vulnerable to potential conflicts of interest (Benner and Meyll, 2020). Human financial advisors aren’t always as immune to these types of things, which can negatively affect the advice provided (Linnainmaa, Melzer and Previtero, 2018). In fact, some people actually exhibit huge levels of distrust towards human advisors, because they’re terrified they’ll be taken advantage of (Burke and Hung, 2016).
Robo-advisors have been criticized for lacking an irreplaceable human element — empathy. However, in a situation where individuals don’t feel comfortable asking certain questions for the fear of being judged, it might be a good thing that they’ll be speaking to robots with no emotions or biases. With the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning, these machines have what it takes to be perfectly honest fiduciaries, acting in clients’ best interests, without any reward or financial incentive (Chia, 2019).
Robo-advisors could also help Kotex become a lot more inclusive by answering questions from transgender men, genderqueer, or non-binary individuals who menstruate. Periods can impact gender identity for trans and non-binary people, making them feel highly dysphoric sentiments — especially because menstrual products are often aggressively gendered, with package colors and designs that are deeply tied to social expectations of womanhood (Frank, 2020). Trans people also report frequent incidents of care refusal and poor interactions with healthcare professionals (Kattari et al., 2015). Fintech focuses on underserved areas of banking (Wiwanto, 2020), and Kotex has the chance to do the same with the underserved LGBTQ+ community.
Other menstrual brands have already started making changes to become more gender neutral. As a nod to transgender and non-binary customers, Procter & Gamble removed the Venus symbol from the wrappers of its Always sanitary pads in 2019 (Murphy, 2019). Luteal, a company selling products that promote menstrual health and symptom relief, launched a powerful campaign called Bleeding Beyond the Binary, that featured 10 transgender men and gender non-binary people with prominent red blood stains on their white underwear (Perry, 2021).
Robo-advisors may not be very sophisticated right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they eventually became more like Samantha, the AI virtual assistant in the science-fiction movie, Her. It’s not that hard to imagine. After all, scientists at Northwestern University have already created Evatar, a robot that had its first period — complete with its own vagina, uterus, cervix, and fallopian tubes (Murphy, 2017).
However, just like with other self-service technologies, robo-advisors could cause anxiety and stress for some users (Zhang, Pentina and Fan, 2021).
4. Adopt gamification to raise menstrual literacy
Menstrual literacy is a baseline of knowledge and skills that allows us to understand anatomical and biological facts of menstruation, care for the menstruating body, and complete menstrual care tasks (Eschler et al., 2019).
In my opinion, menstrual literacy is just as important as financial literacy — which is considered a crucial life skill (Skagerlund et al., 2018).
Poor menstrual literacy can impact one’s quality of life and health (Holmes et al., 2021). Thankfully, Kotex has been helping to alleviate this. The brand has dedicated education sections on its websites, teaching visitors about period problems, period pains, and more (“Education”, 2021). This is important, especially because most don’t seek medical advice when menstrual issues are severe, and instead self-manage by underdosing or choosing ineffective methods (Armour et al., 2021).
Though Kotex is creating and showcasing relevant content on its website, there’s certainly a better way to make menstrual education a lot more exciting like how some others are. Daniela Gilsanz and Ryan Murphy created a unique period board game to help educate kids about the menstrual cycle (Bologna, 2019).
Now, my idea isn’t to create an actual game for Kotex over here. I’m talking about gamification — the implementation of game-like elements in non-game contexts (van der Heide and Želinský, 2021). Games and gamification share many characteristics but they’re not the same (Kim, 2015).
Gamification is a powerful method to achieve sustained innovation in finance because it gives individuals a way to rewire their brains and achieve better investment behavior, because it has the right mix of negative and positive emotions, challenges and rewards, and social interactions (Sironi, 2016).
Even though it’s taken the world by storm, there’s a dark side to gamification. Scott Galloway (2020) says that the free-trading app, Robinhood, has gamified online trading into an addiction. He explains that the gamification of online trading can do real damage, just like it did to Alexander Kearns, a 20-year-old who took this own life after he mistakenly believed he lost $730,000 on Robinhood (Galloway, 2020).
Though there are negative effects of gamification, I believe they can be overcome with a framework for intelligent gamification (FIG), that can personalize usage and monitor risk behavior to avoid overuse (Andrade, Mizoguchi and Idotani, 2016).
Currently, there are many period-tracking apps out there that use gamification such as like Clue, Flo, Oky, et cetera. Some say these period-tracking apps are empowering, because they help people be more aware of their menstrual cycles and health, and gain new knowledge (Levy and Romo-Avilés, 2019). However, others say that menstrual surveillance is a nightmare with many risks because of intimate data-sharing practices (Levy, 2015) and privacy issues (Levy and Romo-Avilés, 2019).
With the right privacy practices in place, Kotex can easily create its own gamified period-tracker app that educates users about menstruation. The brand can even let users earn points — which are a core component of gamification (van der Lubbe, et al., 2021) — to earn cash, Bitcoin or the cryptocurrency I mentioned earlier, which they can later use to buy more period products, other items, or donate to those in need.
E-commerce startup, Lolli, which is backed by Ashton Kutcher and Michelle Phan does something similar — by rewarding shoppers with money or Bitcoin for online purchases (Cuen, 2020).
What I believe could be more fulfilling for the brand, however, is to use gamification to increase menstrual literacy in the visually impaired, as they have difficulty in managing their periods independently (Dündar and Özsoy, 2020). Menstrual kits for the visually impaired do exist, but they’re few and far between.
Gamified experiences that Kotex could explore for the visually impaired include those that have haptic interfaces (González-Cañete et al., 2019), audio communication or sounds denoting success and failure (Smith and Abrams, 2019), and more. There are now even game accessibility guidelines that help game creators to allow people with a range of impairments to access or enjoy games.
Ethical and social considerations
On top of the ethical and social considerations I’ve previously brought up, there are others that Kotex must anticipate under each Fintech trend — be it blockchain, cryptocurrency, robo-advisors or gamification.
Blockchain
My application of blockchain technology for Kotex was to trace period products, to ensure quality and sustainable practices. However, blockchain technology can be also be used to take away the privacy and rights of individuals (Lapinski, 2020). If used in a menstrual surveillance manner, every single intimate data about an individual would be recorded, documented and unchangeable, allowing corporations to exploit the data.
Cryptocurrency
Though creating a period cryptocurrency seems to work in theory, would it actually work in developing countries where technology isn’t that readily accessible? Even though Bitcoin started with good intentions, it appears that it has become a way for the rich to get even richer (Zitron, 2018). Perhaps Kotex could put limits on how many coins one person could have, so that nobody can abuse the system.
Robo-advisors
It’s hard to hold robo-advisors accountable. After all, they’re not human. My idea was to get robo-advisors to communicate with the LGBTQ+ community, however, that doing this may cause serious problems, especially because this group of people have unique problems that most of us — let alone a machine — will never be able to understand. Focus groups must be conducted to circumvent this.
Gamification
Gamification may not be appropriate for raising awareness about serious content, as having elements of playfulness may trivialize it and take away its gravitas (Maltseva, et al., 2019). Menstrual literacy might not be a joke, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be made as fun as the Barbie doll that comes with her own menstrual pads.
Conclusion
There are certainly many bloody good ideas that Kotex can learn from Fintech — and other industries out there — especially because newer companies are popping up to create Shark Week products that are not only sustainable, but Shark Tank-worthy innovative.
There are sanitary pads that release rays to stop the pain of periods (“Our Mission”, 2021). Dissolving tampons that deliver fast-acting HIV protection (Sullivan, 2014). Smart menstrual cups that give alerts when it’s time to be emptied (Shu, 2015). And even inconspicuous jewelry that can track period cycles (Fiorillo, 2016).
In order to maintain its leading position in the period industry for decades to come, Kotex must adopt that transdisciplinary thinking it once had and find better ways of fighting period poverty and menstrual stigma.
Painting Donald Trump with menstrual blood might’ve worked for artist Sarah Levy, but Kotex needs solutions that will make real change for people who menstruate.
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