By Brittaney Kiefer for Adweek

Megan Rapinoe stars in the campaign encouraging athletes to help smash period taboos

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Ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, intimates and apparel brand Knix has offered to pay athletes to talk about their periods. 

Fronted by former Olympian Megan Rapinoe, who retired from professional soccer last year, the bold campaign calls attention to the fact that periods are a reality for almost all menstruating athletes, including those competing on the world stage. 

Yet periods in sports remain taboo. One in two teens will skip sports or drop out altogether because of their period, according to a global study in 2022. 

Knix—which started as a direct-to-consumer business in 2013, selling period underwear—wants athletes to lead by example and help smash the stigma. 

In its ad, Rapinoe reflects on how often during her career she talked to press about her wins, competitions and game-changing goals, without ever mentioning that she was on her period. 

“Hmm, too much information?” she asks. “Nah, not enough information.” 

Knix is encouraging athletes competing at the national or global level between today and Nov. 1 to speak publicly about their experiences with their periods, either through press conferences, accredited media interviews or personal social media channels. 

The brand will pay eligible athletes up to $2,000 for speaking about periods and the sport they play. 

Knix surveyed 300 athletes and found that 99% have competed on their period at an international competition, 75% have a fear of leaking while competing and more than 64% said they have felt uncomfortable talking about their periods with their coaches. 

“The facts are simple. Women often get paid less to participate in sports and compete while managing their periods. So why not pay them to talk about it?” Knix founder and president Joanna Griffiths told ADWEEK. “It’s staggering to see the impact that periods have in sports, and yet unless we see a visceral image of a marathon runner bleeding through her shorts, or an entire industry rebelling against wearing white, it’s not something that is spoken about.”

As Griffiths referenced, some athletes have tried to break this stigma before. In 2015, a woman named Kiran Gandhi ran the London Marathon while letting her period freely flow to raise awareness of period poverty and taboos. And last year, women’s soccer teams in countries including England and New Zealand stopped wearing white shorts in their official uniforms as part of a global protest from female athletes voicing the reality of periods during matches. 

Knix hopes its campaign “will make a difference in the way people talk about periods in sports,” Griffiths added.