Compare the American "Modess, because . . ." ads, a French Modess ad, a French ad featuring just a man!, and ads for teens.
See the box for the French version of this tampon
See 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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Freedom menstrual pads and panty pads, 1970s (?), France, from Kotex

Let's get something straight: unless this is a greatly misinformed woman who is wearing her panty pad upside down and stuck to her vulva - surely Kotex wouldn't do this to her unless it's just another scrape in the cultural battle between France and the U.S.A.! - the ad shows a nude woman to emphasize freedom. Whereas many other countries might have shown a woman playing tennis or swimming, French adpeople felt that not even panties to hold the darn thing would do in showing how free a woman could be with Kotex Freedom. After all, France chose Marianne (in the Delacroix painting, below), barebreasted often, to represent itself. America has Uncle Sam, dressed to the hilt, and not alluring to the overwhelming majority. How better to show the difference between the two countries?

Kotex in both France (also here in a strange, surreal ad) and Germany used the English word freedom, odd in Germany but very odd in France, which excludes many foreign words.

 
Above: My translation of the text lies below the next two pictures.
Below: A portion of Delacroix's "La Liberté guidant le peuple" (Liberty guiding the people) in the Louvre. That's barebreasted Marianne.
 
 
My translation of the ad text (The title is Freedom adhesive. Freedom all the time]:

Freedom adhesive protection.
Freedom attaches to the panties just with pressure from your hand. It's discreet and absorbent.
You're undisturbed with Freedom. You're able to bend, sit and stand.
You're able to live. Freely.
Freedom is external protection. You can't hinder your period. [That has been a fear with tampons for decades. By the way, see what might be the first French tampon.]
It's effective but let's nature proceed. Freely.
Mini Freedom adhesive protection.
Freedom also exists in mini form. because the five days of a cycle aren't alike.Mini Freedom suffices for the last days or when the period is scanty.
But its role doesn't stop there. Almost all women have from time to time other little problems. [What a euphemism! A country that can show a completely nude woman on its package avoids identifying what those "problems" are! See a roughly contemporary German ad that freely - speaking of freedom - uses words like blood (Blut) and flow out (ausfließen).]
Mini Freedom also protects against these little nuisances.
[The large words at the bottom translate as]
Freedom protection hinders neither woman nor nature

SEE ADS for Kotex Freedom in Germany disguising nudity, although not very well (1990) - German o.b. tampon ad showing nudity - Compare the American "Modess, because . . ." ads, and a French ad featuring just a man!

See more ads for menarche-education booklets: Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1933), Tampax tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal Products (1955, with Carol Lynley), and German o.b. tampons (lower ad, 1981)
See also the booklets How shall I tell my daughter? (Modess, various dates), Growing up and liking it (Modess, various dates), and Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1928).
And read Lynn Peril's series about these and similar booklets!
See another ad for As One Girl to Another (1942), and the booklet itself.
© 2007 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