See a roughly contemporary pad, Society,
and a "silent purchase" ad for Modess,
1928.
Other Modess ads: 1931,"Modess . . . . because" ads, the French
Modess, and the German "Freedom" (Kimberly-Clark)
for teens.
See a prototype of the first Kotex
ad.
 
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The perfect menstrual pad 5 (1 2
2a 3 4
4a):
Last recommendation, #12
"Report of Gilbreth, Inc.," to
Johnson & Johnson Company, 1 January 1927, about how to improve
the company's menstrual products, especially with regard to competition
with Kotex pads
12. ADD A WOMAN TO THE STAFF!!
Men don't know everything - no, no, please, it's true!
Here's what Gilbreth wrote:
12. It is essential that a woman be added to the staff of Johnson &
Johnson and that all products be submitted to women for inspection of design
and tests for actual use. No laboratory devices for testing can take the
place of actual wear. The product must be tested by various types of women
who make maximum demands of some sort. The testers must be intelligent
enough to test adequately, to note results accurately, to trace these back
to the ultimate causes, and report truthfully and in detail. There are
so many variables that an inadequate test or an unintelligent tester could
be worthless or worse because their findings might encourage the development
of a poor product or discourage the development of a good one.
I remember being amazed at the proportion of men authoring patents for
menstrual products and the number of men running companies or divisions
for menstrual products.
The first president of Tampax was a German-immigrant woman, but I wonder how many
women have had that job since then. I wonder about the situation at Kotex
and similar operations.
But times are changing. Your MUM is a - wait! I'm a guy, too!
Before I end this page, I must acknowledge that Henry Allen of the Washington
Post wrote a sentence similar to "Men don't know everything - no, no
please, it's true!" (which I write toward the top of the page), about
10 years ago. That's where I got the idea. I was dying to use it, and I
just have.
END of Gilbreth Report
The copy of the report that I read, which may be unique, rests in
the special collections of Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A.
Dr. Gilbreth was the first woman engineering professor at Purdue.
© 1999 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce
or distribute work on this Web site in any manner or medium without written
permission of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org
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