Why research is so important
The Pink Gloves case
When I first read about Pink Glove I could only think: they didn’t research a thing about menstruation. As someone who research menstrual products it is quite clear that they have any idea about menstruation. Or worst, they haven’t talked to women about it. What made these men think that a single use pink plastic glove is a women need? The basics lesson were skipped.
According to them: “Women can avoid unpleasant smells, bacteria and germs in the trash and keep their tampons free from the eyes of others”.
Actually, I guess this glove wasn’t designed to attend women’s need, but to avoid men to keep their eyes off women menstruation, as they say. This product did not seek to meet a women’s need, because that need does not exist. No news here, men being repulsive about female body (hairs, smells, fluids. etc).
If you are women and you think that menstruation has a bad smell, I invite you to try other alternatives besides pads, such as menstrual cup and panties.
As a matter of fact, pads are full of chemical products that reacts with the menstrual blood and causes such a smell.
This is not the first time that men seeks to profit from the female body. Pink Glove goes hand in hand with intimate deodorants and soaps that seek to sanitize the self-cleaning vagina. Yes, vagina is an organ that needs no product to keep it clean and healthy.
Besides this, Pink Glove goes against several issues related to menstruation. It reinforces the vision of menstruation as something dirty and disgusting that needs to be hidden. Until nowadays period shaming is a thing. Several women have already experienced some situation of embarrassment because of her menstruation.
But the times now are to normalize menstruation. It is a long way to break this tabu and we can’t accept any step back. We thank brands such as Body Form that are going against the menstrual stigma as we can see in this comercial video #bloodnormal.
In addition, single use products are getting old fashion. With the revival of menstrual cups and the huge success of menstrual panties women now have new options. Reusable menstruation products are providing new experiences. Back in the XX century, pads and tampons sought to replace the homemade solutions, but now menstrual cup and menstrual panties are replacing them.
How come it is possible to design a single-use solution to be used with another disposable product in a world that seeks to reduce consumption impact in the environment? I truly ask myself.
Pink Glove disaster is just another story developing a product without talking to the users.
The basics I have learned about develop a new project design, was to ask some questiones:
Who is my target?
Is it important?
Is it a necessity?
How this impacts the environment?
To come up with an innovation is not easy. It demands a lot of research. Empathise with the users, understand the context, investigate the complexity, question yourself. And of course, do the basic lesson: get to know the users. There are several problems related to menstruation, but a disposable glove goes against everything related to the subject.
