More ads for teens (see also introductory
page for teenage advertising): Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1948, U.S.A.),
Are you in the know? (Kotex
napkins, 1953, U.S.A.), Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and belts, 1964, U.S.A.), Freedom (1990, Germany),
Kotex (1992, U.S.A.),
Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.),
Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.),
Saba (1975, Denmark)
More ads for teens: See a Modess
True or False? ad in The American Girl magazine,
January 1947, and actress Carol Lynley in "How
Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad (1955) - Modess
. . . . because ads (many dates).
 
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Kotex menstrual pads & tampons: "Are you in the know?"
ad for teenage girls, 1955 (?), unknown publication, U.S.A.
For years copywriters for Kotex produced clever Are
you in the know? advertisements for teenage American girls - white
girls, that is. There are almost only Caucasians in
these ads, and the advice they give, and the dress of the people,
suggest at least a middle-class audience and a very
polite one.
The only obvious non-white Anglo-Saxon Protestant below is the Italian-looking
man in the middle drawing - and he's selling hot dogs ("hot franks").
At least the waitress is going to college in the fall. Another rare non-WASP
is this black man in a railroad car and another serving food - to whites, of course. Darker-skinned
people have lower occupations.
In the last drawing, just because no male asked her to the dance doesn't
mean she's going lesbian at the "gay fray" - an upbeat party,
I guess. Midol also used "gay" when
it meant something else.
The language can be hilarious and probably reflects teenage speech of
the time.
See the ship and shore in the background? Flip this page over - surprise!
I thank an anonymous donor for the ad and several others!
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Next: See the ship
and shore in the background? Flip this page over - surprise! | More ads for teens
(see also introductory page for teenage advertising):
Are you in the know? (Kotex
napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1948, U.S.A.), Are
you in the know? (Kotex napkins, 1953, U.S.A.),
Are you in the know? (Kotex
napkins and belts, 1964, U.S.A.), Freedom
(1990, Germany), Kotex (1992, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Saba (1975, Denmark)
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