12 August 2024: Woolworths New Zealand and its supply partners are teaming up with charity The Period Place to donate period products after a survey found half of respondents experience financial stress because of their cycles.

The national campaign starts on August 12 and runs until September 8. It will see Woolworths' supply partners donate a single period product (e.g. tampon, pad, or liner) from the sale of participating period products from U By Kotex, Libra, Carefree, Stayfree, Tampax, Organic Initiative, Tom Organic, Bonds, Vagisil, Femfresh, Evamay, and Essentials to The Period Place.

Woolworths will top up The Period Place with a $20,000 cash donation.

The appeal will help provide period products and alleviate period poverty for some of the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders who cannot afford them.

“Too many people can’t afford basic period products and it’s a bloody disgrace,” The Period Place CEO Danika Revell says.

“We know times are tough, that’s why we aren’t asking anyone to buy any products to donate to this campaign. Simply buying your regular period products at Woolworths this month will generate donations and help people experiencing period poverty.

“If people can stock up on extra products while they’re on sale this month, it will mean more donations to us. But if all they can buy their normal amount of products this month, they’re still helping others and that’s bloody fantastic.”

The appeal is more important than ever, with a recent survey of more than 1000 New Zealanders aged between 16 and 54, finding a whopping 36 per cent had experienced a period where they could not afford necessary period products.

Of that, 28 per cent sometimes couldn't afford them, 5 per cent often couldn’t and 2 per cent always couldn't afford products.

The survey found for 48 per cent of respondents their periods caused them financial stress or anxiety.

Meanwhile, money wasn’t the only worry for respondents with accessing products also being an area of concern.

66 per cent of participants at least sometimes worried about how they would get period products if they ran out or were caught by surprise.

Danika says the survey not only highlights the financial challenges for people with periods but importantly the need for access to period products in all bathrooms.

“We aren’t expected to bring our own toilet paper to work, or restaurants, or other public spaces and period products should be the same.

“We want to see every bathroom – in and out of the home – stocked with period products so they’re readily available for people who need them,” says Danika.

This is the second year The Period Place has worked alongside Woolworths for the month-long appeal.

“We’re stoked to have a partner in Woolies. Going to the supermarket is as everyday and normal as we want talk about periods to be. Woolies was the first supermarket in the world to call a ‘period’ a ‘period’ when they changed their signage to ‘period care’ from ‘feminine hygiene’ in 2020.

“I’m hoping that through this appeal more people get the message that periods are normal, but period poverty is not,” says Danika.

Period products are no small purchase either with the average menstruator using around 900 packs of product in their lifetime.

The four-week campaign is running in all Woolworths supermarkets nationwide from August 12 until September 8.