See Kurb, a Midol competitor from Kotex.
Midol tins (pill containers)
More Midol ads (magazine): 1938, 1939, 1948, 1960
Midol booklet (selections), 1959
HOMEPAGE
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
HOMEPAGE |
MUM address & What does MUM mean? |
Email the museum |
Privacy on this site |
Who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! |
Art of menstruation |
Artists (non-menstrual) |
Asbestos |
Belts |
Bidets |
Founder bio |
Bly, Nellie |
MUM board |
Books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) |
Cats |
Company booklets for girls (mostly) directory |
Contraception and religion |
Costumes |
Menstrual cups |
Cup usage |
Dispensers |
Douches, pain, sprays |
Essay directory |
Extraction |
Facts-of-life booklets for girls |
Famous women in menstrual hygiene ads |
FAQ |
Founder/director biography |
Gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux |
Humor |
Huts |
Links |
Masturbation |
Media coverage of MUM |
Menarche booklets for girls and parents |
Miscellaneous |
Museum future |
Norwegian menstruation exhibit |
Odor |
Olor |
Pad directory |
Patent medicine |
Poetry directory |
Products, some current |
Puberty booklets for girls and parents|
Religion |
Religión y menstruación |
Your remedies for menstrual discomfort |
Menstrual products safety |
Seguridad de productos para la menstruación |
Science |
Shame |
Slapping, menstrual |
Sponges |
Synchrony |
Tampon directory |
Early tampons |
Teen ads directory |
Tour of the former museum (video) |
Underpants & panties directory |
Videos, films directory |
Words and expressions about menstruation |
Would you stop menstruating if you could? |
What did women do about menstruation in the past? |
Washable pads |
Read 10 years (1996-2006) of articles and Letters to Your MUM on this site.
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

 

Midol menstrual pain reliever newspaper ads, U.S.A.,
1911-1961

Midol started out to relieve headaches, then hiccups, then - well, I'll let the retired teacher who found these ads speak:

Midol started out as a headache tablet, then it was advertised as a cure for hiccups, then finally, it was advertised for menstrual pain and competed with Kotex Kurbs tablets. I can't help but wonder if the ingredients changed along the way. . . . The first price in ads was 10 tablets for 25c then 10 tablets for 50c then the price went down to 40c for 12 tablets in 1940 and stayed the same price and box until 1960. The new box started in 1961 (see ads) and continued at least through the 60's but I don't know when it changed again. I remember that box myself: it had a blue paper liner, plus I remember the series of ads I attach that rotated different pictures and names through the basic ads. Other names that were used besides all these I attached were Donna, Anne, Bonnie, Rachel and Betty; (and probably more) sometimes they were bright, gay, radiant, up, glad or sharp and they mixed up these names, images and words. These ran from the early 50's through the 60's at least although they dropped gay as it gained a new meaning. [For "gay" see this page.]  

More Midol ads (magazine): 1938, 1939, 1948, 1960
Midol booklet (selections), 1959
Midol tins (pill containers)
I thank the genealogist and retired teacher who generously sent these scans!
BELOW: Hey, what's a MAN doing in a Midol ad?! (And what's a man doing in a panty pad ad with no women?!) Below: from the Syracuse [New York] Herald, Dec. 17, 1911. The ad revolves around the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. U.S. History.com has this to say about the legislation (I added the color):
Provisions of the measure included the following:
· Creation of the Food and Drug Administration, which was entrusted with the responsibility of testing all foods and drugs destined for human consumption
· The requirement for prescriptions from licensed physicians before a patient could purchase certain drugs
· The requirement of label warnings on habit-forming drugs.
Passage of the measure in Congress was not assured. The lobbying association representing the medicine makers was vocal and well-funded, as were representatives of the "beef trust" and other food producers. Some members of Congress, especially a number of Southern senators, opposed the bill as constitutionally unsound.
The active involvement of Theodore Roosevelt, who was repulsed by slaughterhouse practices described in Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, successfully overcame the lawmakers' reluctance.
The first casualty of this legislation was the patent medicine industry; few of the nostrums gained certification from the FDA. The law was strengthened in 1911 when additional provisions were added to combat fraudulent labeling.
Interesting, isn't it, that we have similar concerns today, including the concern about fine type? But note: the ad doesn't say what's in Midol!
 

Midol newspaper ads continued: Slogan contest, 1911. See Kurb, Midol's competitor from Kotex.
Midol tins (pill containers)

Other Midol ads (magazine): 1938, 1939, 1948, 1960 - Midol booklet (selections), 1959

© 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 of the
author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org
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