More ads for teens (see also introductory page for
teenage advertising): Are
you in the know?
(Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1948,
U.S.A.), Are
you in the know?
(Kotex napkins, 1953, U.S.A.), Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and belts,
1964, U.S.A.), Freedom
(1990, Germany), Kotex (1992, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Saba (1975, Denmark)
More ads for teens: See
a Modess True or False?
ad in The American Girl magazine, January 1947,
and actress Carol Lynley
in "How Shall I Tell My Daughter" booklet ad
(1955) - Modess . . . .
because ads (many dates). Freedom (1990, Germany), Kotex (1992, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Saba (1975, Denmark)
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Patriotism in
menstrual hygiene!
"And I promised Mom - " (Kotex, May
1943)
Americans felt much more positive
about World War II than about any war
since - even
menstrual pad ads were patriotic!
Can you imagine Tampax calling
America to arms today? The same
militarism pervaded advertising in
general (for example, for cigarettes,
which companies gave away to troops),
and again in this Kotex "Are You in
the Know?" ad a year later, from May 1944.
But war was
in Kotex's blood - or rather,
blood was in Kotex; Kotex, in bandage
form, absorbed it from soldiers in the
First World War and from women in the
Second. (See how
Kotex started.)
Oh, yes, also menstrual blood.
Notice also the faces of the
girl and boy in the ad: they are
really identical.
Kotex, and many other companies,
idealized an Anglo-Saxon but childish
face in many ads. They are teenage babies. As an
illustrator, I know that it easier to
draw the same face than to come up
with new ones (many single-panel
cartoonists use the same face: maybe a
big nose, dots for eyes, etc; and
using varying faces might also detract
from the point, unless faces form a
part of that point). There are no
black or brown ones and there are no
big noses or ears. Depiction of an
America of different-looking people
came later.
Irving Nurick,
an excellent illustrator, drew this
one and similar
ads for Kotex for years.
And I suspect the person who wrote
the text wrote the As one [sic]
Girl to Another booklets for
girls - there's a lot of the
same humor and colloquial language.
We see that sameness in at least one
other Kotex war ad, "Are You in the
Know?" (May 1944)
See blowups of the
illustrations below the main ad.
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Read the booklet "As One
Girl To Another," advertised above.
Compare faces and raise the flag in
another Kotex war ad, "Are You in the
Know?" in May
1944 (U.S.A.)
© 1998 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
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