Tampon directory for this site
How to sell Kotex, a page for trade publications, probably early 1920s, U.S.A., and "Your Image is Your Fortune!," Modess sales-hints booklet for stores, 1967 (U.S.A.).
Announcement to retailers of the menstrual tampon "Playtex Plus" pages 1 (cover) - 2 - 3 - 4 (back cover)
Playtex Sport tampons (U.S.A. 2006) box, tampons, instructions
Kotex: Are you in the know? ads (Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1948, U.S.A.), booklet Preparing for Womanhood (1920s, for menarcheal girls); see also Directory. Humor in advertising: Dr. White's tampons (1987, United Kingdom); Carefree panty pads for teens (1990, Germany). See Society menstrual pad, 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.
See more Kotex items: Ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are many links here to Kotex items) - 1920s booklet in Spanish showing disposal method - box from about 1969 - Preparing for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for girls) - "Are you in the know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - See more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
Ads for the Kotex stick tampon (U.S.A., 1970s) - a Japanese stick tampon from the 1970s.
Early commercial tampons - Rely tampon - Meds tampon (Modess)
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepage | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | menarche booklets for girls and parents | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor | olor | pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religión y menstruación | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruación | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants & panties directory | videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.

THE MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S HEALTH

Announcement to retailers of the menstrual tampon "Playtex Economy Pak" (1975, U.S.A.)

Playtex did several things first in the world of tampons - see below - including two that got people screaming: plastic applicators and deodorant. But Playtex appeared before other tampons on television, which might have led to a more open discussion of menstruation besides distressing the male audience, a good thing. Males need to get used to talking about it. That's part of the problem. (But Kotex had been on boxcars - yes! - in the 1920s, a menstrual cup decorated Times Square in 1961, Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby promoted Stafree pads on the radio in 1982, the same place Procter & Gamble gave the good and bad news about Rely tampons in 1979 and 1980.)

It also colored at least part of its boxes in red, I think also an advance. Menstrual products companies almost always avoided that color (see an early exception that proves the rule as well as here); Heavens, you couldn't remind women of blood! But how 'bout brown and yellow on toilet paper wrappers? Oops, sorry, I mean bathroom tissue, in America anyway. You know, that soft paper you dry yourself with after taking a bath? Well, at least I do.

See also How to sell Kotex, a page for trade publications, probably early 1920s, U.S.A., and "Your Image is Your Fortune!," Modess sales-hints booklet for stores similar to the one below, 1967 (U.S.A.).
Tampon directory for this site
I thank Tambrands, the former maker of Tampax, for donating this brochure to the museum.

Below: The cover (page 1) of the 4-page brochure. It measures 8.5 x 11" (21.5 x 27.8 cm) and is medium-weight coated (glossy) paper. Somebody at Tambrands probably kept it in a 3-ring binder, accounting for the holes at the left side.
 

NEXT | pages 1 (cover) - 2 - 3 - 4 (back cover) | Tampon directory for this site
Announcement to retailers of the menstrual tampon "Playtex Plus" pages 1 (cover) - 2 - 3 - 4 (back cover) | How to sell Kotex, a page for trade publications, probably early 1920s, U.S.A., and "Your Image is Your Fortune!," Modess sales-hints booklet for stores, 1967 (U.S.A.). Playtex Sport tampons (U.S.A. 2006) box, tampons, instructions
Copyright Harry Finley 2007

More Kotex: Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1948, U.S.A.), Preparing for Womanhood (1920s, for menarcheal girls); see also Directory. Humor in advertising: Dr. White's tampons (1987, United Kingdom); Carefree panty pads for teens (1990, Germany)