See a modern bowl for soaking used pads.
Snap-on style washable pad -Washable pad with belt - See how women wear a belt with a pad - see a Swedish ad showing a belt and pad - German pattern for washable pads, probably before 1900 - And see a menstrual sponge
Washable pads from Almora, Uttar Pradesh state, India and Rajasthan state, India - Nineteenth-century Norwegian washable pads - Italian washable pad, probably from the 1890s - instructions for making Japanese pads, early 20th century? - German, about 1900

Famous women in menstrual hygiene advertising:
Carol Lynley - Lee Miller - Mary Lou Retton - Cathy Rigby - Cheryl Tiegs - Brenda Vaccaro

See also advertising for teenagers.

Menstrual pad suspenders!
See how a woman wore a belt in a Dutch ad. See a classy 1920s ad for a belt and the first ad (1891) MUM has for a belt.
See how women wore a belt (and in a Swedish ad). See a modern belt for a washable pad and a page from the 1946-47 Sears catalog showing a great variety.
More ads for napkin belts: Sears, 1928 - modern belts - modern washable - Modess, 1960s
Actual belts in the museum
More ads for napkin belts: Sears, 1928 - modern belts - modern washable - Modess, 1960s
Actual belts in the museum
See the Kotex stick tampon.
See also a Saba Ad, Pursettes ad, Kotex "Are you in the know?" ads (1949)(1953)(1964), Ads for Teens, and some older Kotex ads
And, of course, the first Tampax AND - special for you! - the American fax tampon, from the early 1930s, which also came in bags.
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).
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.

 

Ad for Camelia menstrual pad (1990, Germany)

By the 1990s many companies world wide put small pouches into their packages of pads so a woman could carry a single one, concealing it, and use it to contain the used pad before throwing it away. (Here are ads for New Freedom and Whenever showing pouches, and here are pouches found near toilets to contain used pads.)

In addition, Camelia, the second German disposable pad - Hartmann's Mulpa was the first - demonstrates here a very different attitude from its American counterparts.

The woman, below - she looks like a teenager - openly carries the package of pads; the heading reads, "For me, the most natural thing in the world." Contrast this with the emphasis on shame in an American Kotex ad for teenagers from two years later and in an ad for a tampon from the 1970s, which emphasizes the ease with which it can be concealed.

By the way, the maker of Kotex bought the Camelia company in the late 1990s - the first widely successful disposable pad in America buying the first widely successful one in Germany. This does not mean that Kimberly-Clark, the new owner, will advertise the products the same way. As we see with another amazing ad for Kimberly-Clark's German Freedom, Kotex, like all companies, advertises for the people who read the ads, tailoring them to their feelings.

Advertising almost never tries to change cultural attitudes - it exploits them to make money, perfectly understandable because the bottom line is - the bottom line. That's the business of business.

See another Camelia ad, from 1926

The large text reads in my translation:
For me the most natural thing in the world.
Camelia
Naturally safe. Naturally Camelia.
The small text is below.

 

My translation of the above text:
Because "the days" are completely natural, many women want to experience them as such and not hide them. Thus they use Camelia. Everything takes its natural course. Camelia with the close-fitting natural-fiber fleece in addition guarantees  security.
There's a right Camelia pad for every women. For example, the Camelia Thin Pad. So thin that you hardly feel it, and safe, as you are used to with Camelia. For women who are confident enough to be complete women.
See another Camelia ad, from 1926

© 2000 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