See some Kotex first-campaign ads: general
discussion and ad prototype - January
1921 - May 1921 - November
1921
See more Kotex items: First ad (1921) - ad 1928 (Sears
and Roebuck catalog) - Marjorie May's Twelfth
Birthday (booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are many
links here to Kotex items) - 1920s booklet in Spanish showing disposal
method - box from about 1969 - Preparing
for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for girls) - "Are you in the know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - See
more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
 
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Kotex doesn't show! Three ads for Kotex
menstrual pads,
1927, 1932, 1955 (U.S.A.)
Women, at least in America, have tried to conceal the fact that they
menstruate and certainly haven't wanted anybody to see the pad they were
wearing. Kotex played to that in many ads as did other companies. It's one
of the reasons tampons are so popular. (Early manufacturers sometimes called
tampons internal sanitary napkins, like here.
These three ads address women's fear of being outed that they're menstruating.
I truly believe that if women talked openly among themselves and in
front of men about menstruation, and put pad and tampon boxes in visible
places at their work place and at home most of the silly shame about periods
would disappear. Men and women both think there's a huge issue involved.
There isn't. The silence creates a false delicacy. What's there to be ashamed
of?
Click on the ads to get close-ups of the pictures
and text.
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Above: January, 1927, the month the Gilbreth report appeared, an attempt to create a
competitor for Kotex: Modess. See details.
Below: July, 1932: "Phantom Kotex"
ran through another series of ads; see another example here.
See details.
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Above: April, 1955: "Not a shadow
of a doubt" was a long ad Kotex campaign. See details.
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See some Kotex first-campaign ads: general
discussion and ad prototype - January
1921 - May 1921 - November
1921
© 1998 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
of the 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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