2019 Print & Publishing

THE TAMPON BOOK: A BOOK AGAINST TAX DISCRIMINATION

Short List
TitleTHE TAMPON BOOK: A BOOK AGAINST TAX DISCRIMINATION
BrandTHE FEMALE COMPANY
Product/ServiceTHE TAMPON BOOK
Category B02. Innovative Use of Print
Entrant SCHOLZ & FRIENDS Berlin, GERMANY
Idea Creation SCHOLZ & FRIENDS Berlin, GERMANY
Media Placement THE FEMALE COMPANY Stuttgart, GERMANY
PR SCHOLZ & FRIENDS Berlin, GERMANY
Production SCHOLZ & FRIENDS Berlin, GERMANY
Production 2 METAGATE Berlin, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Matthias Spaetgens Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Chief Creative Officer
Oliver Handlos Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Executive Creative Director
Robert Krause Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Executive Creative Director
Malik Benamara Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Creative Director
Sebastian Stelzer Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Copywriter
Ilona Hartmann Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Copywriter
Ilona Hartmann Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Copywriter
Max Marohn Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Art Director
Daniel Klessig Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Cinematographer
Jan Lagowski Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Cinematographer
Kerstin Mende Scholz & Friends Hamburg GmbH Art Buyer
Benito Schumacher Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Print Producer
Sarah Dahm Scholz & Friends Berlin GmbH Account Manager
Cedric Soltani Studio Dropped Photographer
Ana Curbelo external Illustrator
Natalie Krzyz external Graphics
Alica Läuger external Illustrator

Cultural / Context information for the jury

Germany has a multi-level value added tax system with goods of daily need taxed at 7% and all other goods – taxed with the maximum VAT rate of 19%. The German VAT system is very complicated and contains numerous exceptions and additional specifications. Goods of high cultural relevance are also taxed at the reduced rate of 7%, which includes books. The rather obscure definition of which goods are to be taxed at which rate makes for some troublesome information and allows deeper insight into German bureaucracy.

Explain how the work innovatively used the print / publishing medium.

We packaged tampons in a book and, thus, sold them with the lower tax rate of 7%. In other words: We outsmarted the law with the law itself. But The Tampon Book is much more than a smart packaging that hacked the German tax system. Stylishly illustrated by artist Ana Curbelo and illustrator Alica Läuger, The Tampon Book contains 45 pages with bold illustrations and empowering stories about menstruation, taboo and feminism and promotes a petition which urges the German parliament to discuss the abolition of the tampon tax.