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MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH
TamPak menstrual tampons, super, with applicator, Turkey, 1973
Box
I believe Turkey is the most Western of the Muslim nations and possibly
sold tampons before the others. And it looks as if a company made a look-a-like
Tampax, maybe because Tampax was the only tampon most
of the customers knew or heard of.
The imitation starts with the color, which has perhaps changed from
oxidation. (Compare with a Tampax box from a few years before, below.)
The name itself is revealing. Someone, probably from Tambrands, wrote
on the white label. Do you see the double line under
the letter K, pointing out the difference between the real and fake Tampax?
I'd bet the Tampax lawyers saw it too. I think the capitalization
of the letter P, plus the K for the X, were intended to fend off lawsuits,
at the same time leading the buyer astray. And the typeface is completely
different; it looks like a German typeface from decades before, and might
be, since Germany helped westernize Turkey after World War I, starting with
its language, which had an Arabic script.
Unlike the smaller TamPak this one has an applicator.
Tampax famously made the first tampon with an applicator (see the patent and early history plus a very
early Tampax).
Nowhere do you find patent information - if there is a patent.
The box measures 5.5" x 4" x 1.5" (14 x 10 x 3.5 cm).
Tambrands kindly donated the box as part of a large
gift from its archives.
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Someone at Tampax underlined K twice, once more than with the smaller TamPak.
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Compare the sides, above and below. Why would the Turkish box bear English,
repeating the Tampax verbiage? Maybe to fool a buyer who equates Tampax
with tampon just as many Americans do. The instructions,
inside, are in Turkish.
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Tampax since its beginning emphasized "NO BELTS, NO PINS, NO PADS,"
irritations women put up with for years (see one
on a mannequin) and would soon almost completely abandon (except for pads)
when adhesive pads appeared (see an early one
here - and see some belts).
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One end of the box. The other end has "registered trademark"
in Turkish.
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The star patterns.