Other
Modess ads: another from 1928, 1931,"Modess . . . . because"
ads, the French
Modess, and the German "Freedom"
(Kimberly-Clark) for teens.
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Menstrual pad ad, February 1929
(Johnson & Johnson, U.S.A.)
"Mother . . . don't be quaint"
Modess appeared in the 1920s, a
challenger to Kotex
and many other companies fighting
for the disposable pad market,
which was drawing women away from
washable
pads; commercial menstrual tampons
hadn't appeared yet. A famous
efficiency expert helped
Modess in the battle.
One weapon was humor, unusual at
this time (see some later humor).
The ad below was part of a series
showing how "modern" girls dragged
their mothers into 1929. Their
mothers were so 19th
century!
They had to hurry: the stock market
would crash in a few months.
Modernizing
Mother Episodes #3, #5
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Below:
The odd
lighting runs through the
ad series - maybe a carryover from
the stage,
popular before TV; films were in
their youth.
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Below:
So, what's
Daughter doing? Putting beauty marks
on Mother's face (is that what's
on her own face?) while Mom's
heart flutters? What's that in her
hand? What's that lump right below
her wrist - a lipoma? Actually, I
think it's a reflection in the
mirror behind her.
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Below:
The fact that the three marks (see
the arrows) were screened before
printing (indicated by the
thickened dots) means they aren't
just dirt on the plate before
being printed but intentional
- at least that's how I interpret
them. So are they then beauty
marks? Ah, the
piercings of yesteryear!
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