See a Polish ad for Libresse
and a Dutch bus-stop ad, 2006 - See a very early Tampax.
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies
made for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine
- a list of books and articles about menstruation
- videos
 
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Menstrual red in an ad for Libresse menstrual pads, Dutch, 1998
Certainly in America companies do not tolerate red in ads for menstrual
hygiene - it might suggest menstruation! Blue is the popular choice, called
hospital blue in a history of one of the companies. Hospitals suggest illness.
Is menstruation an illness? Dr. Lillian Gilbreth complained about blue in
her famous report to Johnson & Johnson in
1927.
But the Dutch seem to be more accepting and show pads stained red (which
my white arrows point to in the picture below) although a gloved hand holds
the pad, the glove looking like one used to handle
the ebola virus.
Margot van Mulken kindly sent me this ad, one of scores, along with
many photocopies, as part of her research for her article "De verpakking
van maandverband: De ontwikkeling van retoriek in tijdschriftadvertenties"
in Tidschift voor Genderstudies, 2005-1.
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Above: My
white arrows, at right, point to the pads stained red.
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Enlargement of the area the arrows point to. Note the white
gloves.
A bare hand would give the impression that women actually touch
their used pads!
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© 2006 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
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