See o.b. booklets: Volwassen
worden ("Growing up," the
Netherlands, excerpts,
2004, o.b. tampons)
[Die] Menstruation (excerpts, 1977,
o.b. tampons, Germany)
See an actual o.b.
tampon from the 1970s
- More o.b. stuff in the tampon directory
Tampax Junior tampons, late 1930s-1940s
Tampax Satin Learner's
Kit (for menstruation), 2001, in 3
languages
Instructions from Tampax about what to
tell customers, 1936
Tampax "Educational
Material on Menstruation," 1966
Booklets
menstrual hygiene companies made for girls,
women and teachers - patent
medicine - a list
of books and articles about menstruation - videos
See a Kotex ad
advertising a Marjorie May booklet.
See many more similar booklets.
See ads for
menarche-education booklets: Marjorie May's Twelfth
Birthday (Kotex, 1932), Tampax tampons (1970,
with Susan Dey), Personal
Products (1955, with Carol Lynley),
and German o.b.
tampons (lower ad, 1981)
And read Lynn Peril's series about
these and similar booklets!
Read the full text of the 1935 Canadian edition
of Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, probably
identical to the American edition.
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 and belts,
1949, 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)
See early tampons
and a list of tampon
on this site - at least the ones I've
cataloged.
|
The Museum of Menstruation and
Women's Health
o.b. ad
The Netherlands, 2000
Viva magazine
Pads battle tampons!
The fight without end
continued in the ad below.
Big surprise! The
tampon - o.b. - won in spite of
her mama's influence.
But then mamas by definition are
old
fashioned. O.K.,
maybe not all.
A European
tampon before Johnson &
Johnson took it over in the 1970s,
o.b. stood out in recent America
by having no insertion device, but
most early
American tampons also had no
applicators, so the idea was not
new, just forgotten. Tampax and
its patent on a cardboard
applicator killed most of
its competition in its first
decades, probably even in Europe.
O.b. has made some of the cleverest
and boldest
ads in the industry although
English products might be the wittiest.
Margot van Mulken
kindly sent me this ad, one of
scores, along with
many photocopies of Dutch ads,
as part of her research for
her article "De verpakking
van maandverband: De
ontwikkeling van retoriek in
tijdschriftadvertenties"
(The Packaging of of Menstrual
Pads: The Development of
Rhetoric in
Magazine Advertising) in
Tidschift voor Genderstudies
(Journal of Gender Studies),
2005-1.
See an Always
ad she sent me,
from 1997.
|
Below:
The ad occupies the left half of a
page measuring
8 1/4 x 10 1/2" (21 x 26.7 cm).
|
Below:
My translation - and What's in
her hand?
|
 |
(advertisement)
Did you use tampons from the time of
your first period?
Mom gave me a menstrual pad first
but I quickly wanted to try tampons.
I started with the smallest and
truly I never wanted to go back to
pads. I felt so much cleaner. At
present it's simpler to start with
o.b. because there's now o.b.
Comfort. They're more slender and
have a smooth surface, thus more
comfortable to insert. Ideal for the
first time and great for the lighter
days!
(at bottom) If you
have questions write to the
o.b. advice center....
 |
Below:
That's not an o.b. but her index
finger.
|
|
|
See an o.b. tampon
from the 1970s
- More o.b. stuff in the tampon directory
- Tampax Satin Learner's
Kit (for menstruation), 2001, in 3
languages
Instructions from Tampax about what to tell
customers, 1936 -
See a French and American
Tampax from 1938
Tampax "Educational Material on
Menstruation," 1966
© 2015 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
|