MEXICO CITY—“Padvertising: Not a Luxury. Period,” a program developed for the Menstrual Justice Law Costa Rica campaign by Shift Porter Novelli and PhD Costa Rica took home the Platinum SABRE Award for the best public relations campaign of the year at last night’s Latin American SABRE Awards ceremony in Mexico City.

The “Padvertising” campaign was developed to draw attention to the fact that sanitary products are taxed as luxury items in Costa Rica, pricing them beyond the reach of many women. The campaign message reached more then 90% of the Costa Rican competition, garnered support from 48 of the country’s 57 leading politicians, and ultimately resulted in changes in the law.

“Like so many of the great campaigns we have seen take home top honors in recent years, the Padvertising initiative used creative public relations strategy to reach a large audience and deliver real-world impact, in this case eliminating a tax that made essential sanitary products too expensive for many women to afford,” said Paul Holmes, who chaired the SABRE judges.

“This year’s Latin American SABREs included a large number of creative and impactful campaigns, but Padvertising was the real standout.”

Padvertising beat out four other finalists for the Platinum SABRE:
2. Gallery of Lies — Animal Político with Weber Shandwick
3. The Mustache that Plays for Everyone — Gillette - Procter & Gamble with Ketchum, Grey, Loud, Bite Producoes Artisticas LTDA, LEW'LARA\TBWA, New Vegas
4. The Last Survivors — UNESCO, Holocaust Museum of Curitiba and CONIB with Cappuccino, Weber Shandwick Brazil
5. El Sol que Ayuda — Por Un Perú Sin Cáncer with Orange LATAM / VMLY&R

A full list of winners can be found here.

The Latin American SABRE Awards were presented in Mexico City, at a ceremony produced by our Latin American SABRE Awards partner, PRORP.