See more Kotex items: First ad
(1921) - ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog)
- Lee Miller ads (first real person in amenstrual
hygiene ad, 1928) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday
(booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are many links here
to Kotex items) - Preparing for Womanhood (1920s,
booklet for girls; Australian edition) - 1920s booklet in Spanish showing
disposal method - box
from about 1969 - "Are you in the know?"
ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) -
See more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
And read Lynn Peril's series about these
and similar booklets!
See more Kotex items: First ad
(1921) - ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog)
- Lee Miller ads (first real person in amenstrual
hygiene ad, 1928) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday
(booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are many links here
to Kotex items) - Preparing for Womanhood (1920s,
booklet for girls; Australian edition) - 1920s booklet in Spanish showing
disposal method - box
from about 1969 - "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 ad, July 1923, (with proof) (U.S.A.)
This early, beautiful Kotex ad shows themes running through the whole
history of menstrual products advertising: concealment, shame,
comfort and ease of disposal. (See discussions of other
ads for these topics.) The ad mentions laundry;
most women used washable pads or rags before
Kotex appeared, in 1921, and many did for decades to come, because of cost.
Contrary to what the ad says, Kotex was expensive, over five cents a pad,
perhaps 35 cents in today's money.
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We read the themes that appear for decades in menstrual hygiene advertising:
concealment and shame. In 1923, Kotex advised women
to take the used Kotex apart and flush it down the toilet (see a demonstration
in an early booklet in Spanish). Other companies
have sold flushable pads, not always successfully.
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This enlargement of the text to the left of the above text shows that
dispensers for Kotex appeared in the early 1920s.
A University of Maryland student recently (October 1999) complained to me
that she couldn't find a dispenser on campus. I suspect the small size and
increased absorption of pads and tampons today enable women to change them
less often, necessitating fewer, or no, dispensers. The companies probably
figure it isn't worth the money to keep them. Certainly menstrual cups can make life easier, for some women, anyway.
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© 1999 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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