Hello to the Tampon Book
“A book that is a packaging for tampons to save taxes. A book that is a provocative message of existing gender inequality in our tax system. Filled with 15 tampons and 40 pages of explicit content about your period.”
In 1963 German lawmakers, all men, decided to tax feminine hygiene products at the highest luxury tax rate of 19%, while taxing true luxury goods like caviar, oil paintings and truffles at 7%.
So, German organic tampon company The Female Company decided to do a work around. They packaged tampons as a book, which is taxed at the lower 7% rate. While they were at it they took the opportunity to tell “funny and surprising stories about menstruation”. This effort is brilliant on so many levels.
TV Spot: The Tampon Book : A Book against Tax Discrimination (The Female Company P.R. Case)