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Always is getting rid of the female symbol on packaging to be more inclusive

The packaging will be changed from December


Sanitary product company Always has confirmed it will no longer use the female symbol from all of their sanitary product packaging by December, in order to promote inclusivity.

The presence of the symbol was called out as non-inclusive by Twitter users, as Always sanitary products may need to be used by trans or non-binary people and not just women. This led to the decision that the symbol should be removed.

Transgender activist and Stonewall Young Campaigner of the Year Ben Saunders was one of the first to criticise Always for using the gender symbol. Always responded to Ben directly and said they were changing the packaging.

In a tweet celebrating the change, Ben said: "After having contacted Always back in June about their packaging that discriminated against their transgender customers through its design that featured the female symbol, I'm thrilled to hear back that they've now redesigned the packaging that will go out in December!"

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Credit: @bensaunders44 and @Mfortstater on Twitter

Ben then posted a picture of the letter Always had sent, saying: "We listened to you and our marketing team worked a solution! We are glad to inform you that as of December we will use a new wrapper design without the feminine symbol."

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Some are not as welcoming of the change, however, with people claiming the new packaging excludes women and threatening to stop purchasing Always products.

A spokesperson for Proctor & Gamble, the company that own Always, has said: “For over 35 years Always has championed girls and women, and we will continue to do so.

“We’re also committed to diversity and inclusion, and after hearing from many people across genders and age groups, we realised that not everyone who has a period and needs to use a pad identifies as female.

“To ensure that anyone who needs to use a period product feels comfortable in doing so with Always, we updated our pad wrapper design.

"Our mission remains to ensure no girl loses confidence at puberty because of her gender or period and we do this through our puberty education programs, by providing access to period products with programs such as #EndPeriodPoverty, and by using our brand voice to tackle societal barriers and stigmas like we did with #LikeAGirl.”

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