VIKAS BAGARIA, founder of Pee Safe, talks about how the pandemic has highlighted the need of maintaining hygiene and feels that it is high time that feminine hygiene is also given equal importance
How many of us knew what a sanitiser really was before the pandemic? And even if we did, it goes without saying not many used it so frequently. In fact, for many, it was nothing but a medical luxury.
However, COVID-19 taught us the importance and necessity of sanitation and hygiene. But long before this people like Vikas Bagaria have already been working towards improving the sanitary conditions with innovative products and campaigns such as Pee Safe.
“In 2013, my wife and now the co-founder of Pee Safe suffered from Urinary Tract Infection because of using dirty public toilets while travelling. It was then that we realised the importance of maintaining sanitary hygiene. That got us thinking and we decided that the need of that hour was for a toilet seat sanitizer spray which is easy to carry and cheap enough to buy. After a lot of reasearch, it was in 2017 that we finally ventured into female hygiene and intimate hygiene for both men and women with an aim to improve the conditions in the country regarding this issue,” says Bagaria.
Although feminine hygiene has been a taboo in the country for generations and not many people prefer to talk about it in open, the recent years has seen a change. With the youth talking and discussing such issues to raise awareness and create dialogue, the situation is definitely improving, if not more.
“Since the youth has always been the drivers of change, our target audience is also Gen Z and the millennials. They don’t beat around the bush, they are vocal, bold, upfront and social media friendly about issues like sex, menstruation and intimate hygiene. This is exactly what we need. It is to target these people that we launch various campaigns including, Own the Red, in 2019, where for the first time we depicted the menstrual blood in advertisements as red and not the standard blue. It is absolutely imperative to acknowledge and work on these little things to make bigger changes,” he says.
Not only this, but the growing demand of the youth insisted the husband-wife duo to launch their range of female condoms. “It was on the demand of the consumers that we launched our female condoms ‘Domina’. They are the ones who encouraged us by saying that this is something they want to talk about, we worked purely on their demand,” he says.
The credit of the success of the brand and its campaigns has to be given to the young and dynamic team that Bagaria has. “The very reason behind such different ideas, campaigns and products is that our team consists of extremely young and energetic people. Their average age is around 23-25 and if they are given the freedom to express themselves on social media, they make sure they make every post worth it. All our campaigns are in house and all the credit goes to the creativity of the team,” Bagaria added.
The unfortunate part id that the high of sanitation has gone down again. “I believe we used to use more sanitiser sitting at home than we do now, but the good news is that the pandemic made people concerned about hygiene. I know although awareness regarding feminine hygiene has grown immensely, it will still be some time till it becomes a household topic. Even the budget has given a concession to health and wellness, and anything that emphasis awareness and increases access is a good thing. I am positive it will also boost the sector of feminine health because as long as our women are healthy, our nation will remain healthy,” he says.