To draw attention to the millions of girls who cannot afford period products, the MENstruation Foundation ran a unique advertisement in three major South African newspapers.

Readers of The Star, The Mercury and Cape Times opened their newspapers this week to find something deeply uncomfortable: period blood stains on the front page, seeping through to the pages beneath — as if the newspaper itself had been used as a sanitary pad.

South African schoolgirls suffering from period poverty are forced to use newspapers, rags, and even cow dung in place of sanitary pads. Here’s a short video of what the ad looks like as you page through the paper, culminating in a full page highlighting the foundation’s free sanitary pad dispensers placed in schools.

Wow this is such a cool approach! Also good god, can you even imagine using cow dung instead of sanitary pads?

Blimey that's really effective!! Not something people will forget