Aotearoa faced an uncomfortable truth: 62% of us keep sexual health concerns to ourselves. Because of shame, stigma and discomfort. Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa (formally old-school sounding 'Family Planning') was on a new-school mission to get us comfier chatting all things sexual health. Out loud, in your face, sans stigma.

We got people talking through the ultimate comfort tool: Emotional Support Bits. Riffing off the Emotional Support Items raging over TikTok (like water bottles, teddy bears, pickles), these huggable, squeezable plushies were designed to diffuse tension, and ignite the chat. Each bit was a bespoke one-off, based on real peoples' sketches of the bits they felt most comfy with. Kicked off by influencers then opened to the public to win their own, hundreds of bits were sketched and submitted on the SWA website. Then dozens sewn, stitched and sent all over Aotearoa.