See a roughly contemporary
pad, Society, and
a "silent purchase"
ad for Modess, 1928.
Other Modess ads:
1931,"Modess . . . . because"
ads, the French
Modess, and the German "Freedom"
(Kimberly-Clark) for teens.
See a prototype
of the first Kotex ad.
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The perfect menstrual pad 5 (1 2 2a 3 4 4a):
Last
recommendation, #12
"Report of Gilbreth,
Inc.," to Johnson & Johnson
Company, 1 January 1927, about how to
improve
the company's menstrual products, especially
with regard to competition with Kotex pads
12. ADD
A WOMAN TO THE STAFF!!
Men don't know everything - no,
no, please, it's true!
Here's what Gilbreth wrote:
12. It is essential that a
woman be added to the staff of
Johnson & Johnson and that
all products be submitted to
women for inspection of design
and tests for actual use. No
laboratory devices for testing
can take the place of actual
wear. The product must be tested
by various types of women who
make maximum demands of some
sort. The testers must be
intelligent enough to test
adequately, to note results
accurately, to trace these back
to the ultimate causes, and
report truthfully and in detail.
There are so many variables that
an inadequate test or an
unintelligent tester could be
worthless or worse because their
findings might encourage the
development of a poor product or
discourage the development of a
good one.
I remember being amazed at the
proportion of men authoring
patents for menstrual products and
the number of men running
companies or divisions for
menstrual products.
The first
president of Tampax was a German-immigrant
woman, but I wonder how many
women have had that job since
then. I wonder about the situation
at Kotex and similar operations.
But times are changing. Your MUM
is a - wait! I'm a guy, too!
Before I end this page, I must
acknowledge that Henry Allen of
the Washington Post wrote a
sentence similar to "Men don't
know everything - no, no please,
it's true!" (which I write toward
the top of the page), about 10
years ago. That's where I got the
idea. I was dying to use it, and I
just have.
END
of Gilbreth Report
The copy of the report that I
read, which may be unique, rests
in the special collections of
Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. Dr.
Gilbreth was the first woman
engineering professor at Purdue.
©
1999 Harry Finley. It is illegal
to reproduce or distribute work
on this Web site in any manner
or medium without written
permission of the author. Please
report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org
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