Hygiene and health company Essity, together with its leading feminine care brand Saba, are launching a virtual world on the online video game platform Roblox in order to normalize menstruation. The project, V-Land, encourages boys, girls and parents to have a space in the metaverse where stigmas and taboos around menstruation are removed through edutainment. V-Land is a game on Roblox where boys, girls, teenagers and parents have a space in the metaverse that allows them to learn about and normalize menstruation.
Roblox is a massively popular online gaming platform where users can create their own virtual worlds and games. Players can join and explore millions of user-generated 3D worlds and games, and also create their own games using Roblox Studio, a free software tool that enables users to build and design their own games and experiences. Roblox has a large community of players and developers from around the world, making it a social platform as well as a gaming platform. It is available on various devices including PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Xbox, and PlayStation.
The game and platform are inspired by the results of the first National Menstrual Management Survey conducted by Essity, in conjunction with Menstruación Digna Mexico and UNICEF. The survey found that 44% of women feel uncomfortable talking about menstruation with their father, brothers, uncles or other male relatives, while 52% feel uncomfortable talking about it with their partners and colleagues. In fact, the lack of information around menstruation is a global issue, with only 55% claiming to be knowledgeable about menstruation according to Essity’s Global Hygiene and Health Survey from 2022.
“We developed the idea with the objective of initiating an innovative project that will help educate, while you play. We decided to launch V-Land in Roblox where the players will be able to find skins to use while navigating through this world, for example a tampon, a blood clot or a uterus. Every single element has been carefully chosen to bring awareness and break taboos related to menstruation as we want players to experience thrilling adventures full of emotions that are free from ridicule or bullying,” explains Mariana Salguero, Marketing Manager of feminine care brand Saba by Essity.
V-Land was launched on February 23 in Roblox and is available for free in Spanish worldwide on computers, cell phones and consoles. The launch campaign will run throughout the year with a 360 promotion strategy that includes visits to schools in Mexico and targets girls and boys ages 7 to 15 and parents of children ages 9 to 15.
