The Kotex vending machine (and the pad within from the 1930s), the Kotex pad and box of the
1930s
See also Australian
douche ad (ca. 1900) - Fresca douche powder (U.S.A.)
(date ?) - Kotique douche liquid ad, 1974 (U.S.A.)
- Liasan (1) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany)
- Liasan (2) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany)
- Lysol douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Lysol douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.) - Marvel
douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Midol menstrual
pain pill ad, 1938 (U.S.A.) - Midol booklet (selections),
1959 (U.S.A.) - Mum deodorant cream ad, 1926 (U.S.A.)
- Myzone menstrual pain pills ad, 1952 (Australia)
- Pristeen genital spray ad, 1969 (U.S.A.) -
Spalt pain tablets, 1936 (Germany) - Vionell genital spray ad, 1970, with Cheryl Tiegs (Germany)
- Zonite douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.)
The Perils of Vaginal Douching (essay by Luci
Capo Rome) - the odor page
 
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Kotex vs. Modess menstrual pads, 1930-31, U.S.A.
Umbrellas and pads protect
Modess and Kotex pads battled it out from the time Modess appeared in
the mid-1920s (Kotex started in 1920) until
Modess lost when its belted pads disappeared from the American market in
the 1990s. Johnson & Johnson, maker of Modess, famously commissioned
Dr. Lillian Gilbreth, of "Cheaper by the Dozen" fame, to figure
out what women wanted in a pad.
At the time of these ads many companies sold menstrual pads in the U.S.A.
but Kotex was king - er, queen. The lonely woman in the Modess ad (below,
right) eerily reflects that; the Kotex ladies chat away, discussing Kotex's
pros and cons I'm sure (and in the second Kotex ad, below the first). Modess
usually had the more elegant ads (here's another ccompany's attempt
at elegance), culminating in the famous "Modess
. . . . because" series, which are as verbally anorectic as this
Modess model is physically. Even a wrapped Modess
dispenser pad wilts under the verbiage of its Kotex
competitor. You could say Kotex's competitor is more Modess(t).
Look at the Modess wearer's face;
she should have just stayed home.
The ads measure 13 7/8" high. Magazines could be huge before the
oil shortage in the 1970s reduced them to the sizes we have today. Too bad.
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