{"id":21318,"date":"2024-07-02T19:57:52","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T19:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=21318"},"modified":"2024-07-02T19:57:53","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T19:57:53","slug":"period-care-brands-face-unique-restrictions-online-nadya-okamoto-wants-to-change-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=21318","title":{"rendered":"Period-care brands face unique restrictions online. Nadya Okamoto wants to change that"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Menstrual products are a normal part of health routines for half the population. But online and in advertising, they remain largely taboo.<\/p>\n

Nadya Okamoto, co-founder of period-care brand August, created the brand as part of a decade-long mission to help destigmatize periods. At 16, she started the nonprofit Period.org, and at 20, she wrote a book aimed at bringing attention to inequities like states taxing tampons as luxury items rather than necessities. Now, as a 26-year-old business owner, Okamoto said she\u2019s seen period-care brands miscategorized and stigmatized in the advertising world.<\/p>\n

Okamoto said that August was marked for violations and had its listings frozen on TikTok Shop in May after just one week on the platform (TikTok includes feminine-care products on its list of prohibited products for TikTok Shop). TikTok had not provided comment at publication time. On Hulu, she said one of the brand\u2019s CTV ads that showed fake blood was recently flagged for \u201cviolent and graphic content.\u201d Hulu did not respond to Marketing Brew\u2019s request for comment. In other cases, she said she\u2019s seen period-care products face the same restrictions as products like sex toys and vapes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is representative of a much larger challenge as a period-care brand,\u201d Okamoto said. \u201cThis category is so synonymous with something inappropriate that, in everything from advertising to CTV, social media, and shoppability, there are just so many restrictions, which makes it super challenging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of the marketing challenges, August has relied mostly on organic strategies online and IRL as it fights to be categorized as a beauty, personal care, and wellness brand. Posting, selling, and advertising online not only helps support the businesses of period-care companies like August, Okamoto said, but can also help young people in need of information.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been advocating for things like this, to take away restrictions so that we can talk about periods and talk about education, for 10 fucking years,\u201d Okamoto said. \u201cWe have made progress, and I don\u2019t want to lose sight of that, but it does feel like a never-ending battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

100% organic cotton<\/del> info<\/h2>\n

On her personal accounts, where she\u2019s racked up more than 5 million followers across TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube combined, Okamoto regularly posts informative content around period care\u2014and she said she has faced restrictions of her own on other platforms like YouTube and Snapchat on content showing period products or anything resembling blood.<\/p>\n

Google spokesperson Nate Funkhouser told us in an email that YouTube\u2019s \u201cadvertiser-friendly guidelines allow for the monetization of content containing menstrual products, such as tampons or pads.\u201d He added that \u201cif a creator thinks we\u2019ve made a mistake in our enforcement, we provide an option to appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Snap spokesperson Ashley Adams said in an email that \u201ccontent depicting bodily fluids is not typically eligible for recommendation on Spotlight, but [Snap is] actively evolving [its] content policies in recognition of the need to destigmatize conversations around menstruation.\u201d<\/p>\n

When content has been flagged or removed in the past, Okamoto said she hasn\u2019t always been able to reach someone at the platforms to resolve the issue.<\/p>\n

Utilizing Okamoto\u2019s following, particularly on TikTok, has been a major organic strategy for August since it started in 2021. At one point, Okamoto said she was posting up to 100 times a day. \u201cThat is how we grow the brand: through organic storytelling and education,\u201d she said. It\u2019s about \u201cmeeting people where they\u2019re at with their own curiosity and experience with periods.\u201d<\/p>\n

As more legislative restrictions are placed on sex ed and reproductive rights, Okamoto has felt even more compelled to post. She said that nearly half of her followers are between 18 and 24, most are women, and two of her top cities are in Texas, where sex ed is opt-in by school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are so many basic questions that people turn to the internet to ask because they don\u2019t have that education in school or at home or with their doctor,\u201d Okamoto said. \u201cThat is something that\u2019s been a huge opportunity that we\u2019ve waded into.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the face of the brand, Okamoto recently went on a road trip across the country, driving three to six hours a day to help spread the word about August at Target stores, where the brand is sold. That trip, she said, led to an increase in 20k followers for her and 5k for the brand. \u201cWe need to be creative and really scrappy because we don\u2019t have the money to do big influencer deals or brand trips,\u201d she said, adding that the brand has a \u201czero-dollar events budget.\u201d.<\/p>\n

To further engage its community, Okamoto said August uses the group-chat app Geneva and is focused on building brand awareness on TikTok. Still, being able to monetize August on the platform, she said, would \u201cfundamentally change\u201d the way the brand uses it, she said, adding that she wants to be able to \u201ckill it\u201d on TikTok Shop the way she\u2019s seen beauty brands profit from it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason why there are so many beauty brands,\u201d she said. \u201cThere aren\u2019t a lot of period-care brands.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Menstrual products are a normal part of health routines for half the population. But online and in advertising, they remain largely taboo. Nadya Okamoto, co-founder of period-care brand August, created the brand as part of a decade-long mission to help destigmatize periods. At 16, she started the nonprofit Period.org, and at 20, she wrote a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-marketing"},"yoast_head":"\nPeriod-care brands face unique restrictions online. Nadya Okamoto wants to change that | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Menstrual products are a normal part of health routines for half the population. 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