The manufacturer of fax produced
several undated documents for dealers, explaining that
newspapers in the following American cities would
advertise the tampon, with other cities added "as
distribution develops":
Akron, Albany, Atlanta,
Baltimore, Binghamton, Birmingham, Boston, Bridgeport,
Brooklyn, Buffalo, Charleston, Charlotte, Chattanooga,
Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas,
Dayton, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Duluth, El Paso,
Erie, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Fort Worth, Grand Rapids,
Harrisburg, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas
City (Mo.), Knoxville, Little Rock, Lincoln, Los
Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee,
Minneapolis, Nashville, Newark, New Orleans, New York,
Norfolk, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Peoria,
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland (Ore.), Providence,
Richmond, Rochester, Sacramento, St, Louis, St. Paul,
Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle,
Sioux City, South Bend, Spokane, Springfield (Mass.),
Syracuse, Tacoma, Trenton, Utica, Washington, Wichita
and Wilkesbarra
I suggest looking in newspaper archives in these cities, starting around 1935 and moving toward the
1920s. I give reasons elsewhere for believing
that fax is a very early tampon, maybe the earliest. Prove
me right or wrong!
Here's
some text from the document containing the cities
shown above:
a new freedom for women [This title is written in
huge, all lower-case type. The word fax is
always lower-case and italic.]
A constantly changing world brings a
never-ending stream of new ideas, better methods, more
comforts, greater freedom. It has long since eliminated
the flouncing petticoats, the bulging bustle and other
uncomfortable garments.
Now comes the greatest freedom of all,
the elimination of the cumbersome, chafing, binding
sanitary napkin to be replaced by fax, the invisible
sanitary napkin [it
doesn't say "tampon," perhaps an unfamiliar word to the
public]. No pins, no pads, no
belts. Nothing to wear that that can show even in a
close-fitting bathing suit.
Absolutely safe. Complete protection every
day. So comfortable that the wearer is unaware of its
presence. Nothing to injure or even irritate delicate
tissues.
Soothingly smooth before use and a soft,
fluffy highly absorbent invisible pad in use.
fax is a
scientific combination of old ideas [this line is in large, bold
type] [end of
document text]
Compare this language to a newspaper ad
for Tampax from 1937 (Tampax started in 1936): "Tampax is a new method of
sanitary protection which eliminates the external pad
entirely . . . Tampax is worn internally. . . . Tampax
eliminates belts, pins, pads and the chafing, binding
discomfort and embarrassment that go with them . . . . [The word "tampon" is never mentioned here
either, as it is not in the Wix ad
from 1934. The Wix language is also similar to the
language of these two other products.]
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