See more Kotex items: First ad
(1921; scroll to bottom of page) - ad, 1928 (Sears
and Roebuck catalog) - Lee Miller ads (first
real person in a menstrual hygiene ad, 1928) - Marjorie
May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet for girls, 1935, American/Canadian edition)
- 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
See 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 ad, 1938
- 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) - Sterizol
douche liquid ad, 1926 (U.S.A.) - 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
More Midol: Midol booklet (selections), 1959,
and Midol ad, 1938
 
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Wrapped Modess menstrual pad for a dispenser, U.S.A., 1930s?
Kotex probably pioneered the use of dispensers for pads, but other companies
quickly followed (see old dispensers at the Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C.).
I can't help but wonder if the lack of information on the back of the
package foreboded Modess's losing its competition with its main competitor,
Kotex, which covered the back of its packaging
with information. It also reflected the "Modess
. . . .because" ad campaign of the following decades in its taciturnity.
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The package measures 8.75" long by 4.25" high (about 22 cm
by 10.5 cm), an inch shorter than the wrapped 1930s pad from Kotex.
Note the cross. Johnson & Johnson was known
for its bandages, as was Kimberly-Clark (in World War I), the creator of
Kotex; it too flaunted the cross. But the crosses were probably intended
to boost the pads' credibility among a public that had increasing faith
in doctors after the medical inadequacy of the
19th century, especially in America.
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Back of package. The back of the wrapped Kotex
pad is covered with information.
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© 1999 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
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