See more Kotex items: First ad
(1921; scroll to bottom of page) - ad, 1928 (Sears and Roebuck
catalog) - Lee
Miller ads (first real person in a
menstrual hygiene ad, 1928) - Marjorie May's Twelfth
Birthday (booklet for girls, 1928,
Australian edition; there are many links here
to Kotex items) - Preparing
for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for
girls; Australian edition) - 1920s booklet in
Spanish showing disposal
method - box
from about 1969 - "Are you in the
know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - See
more ads on the Ads for
Teenagers main page
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The Museum of Menstruation and Women's
Health
"Kotex completes
Milady's toilette,
insuring perfect poise"
Kotex ad, May, 1922
The Ladies Home Journal, U.S.A.
Do you still need to be
convinced that Kotex targeted the
fancy
readers of this magazine?
Does calling the American reader Milady
as if she were an English noblewoman
flatter her?
And toilette
- no, not toilet - meant a cloth
used to protect clothing as well as
a dressing table covered with cloth
(toile) and which might have held a
mirror. The French
association elevated the ad's tone,
taking menstruation into a
sophisticated realm of, yes, the upper
middle class and above. Anything
to take it out of the toilet!
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Below:
The full-page ad
measures 11 x 14" (27.9 x 35.6 cm).
As in the 1921 ad
Kotex is used as a plural - but
only once.
I wonder when the singular triumphed.
"Best seller" first appeared in print in
1889 in the Kansas
Times & Star newspaper (Wikipedia).
How do you ask for menstrual pads when
clerks hid
them behind counters like most
goods? Is the name,
like Kotex,
important?
See a 1930s Kotex from a vending
machine.
Have a headache? Slap a wet Kotex on
your forehead!
Why not? suggests the ad. Today rescue
units sometimes
use Kotex to absorb blood.
So, what is birdseye?
Look at the Chicago address at the
bottom: it's about 6 minutes by car
today
from one
of Kotex's first
tampon addresses, 30 S.
Clinton St. and 9 minutes from
another UrKotex
tampon, 2014 W. Wabansia Ave! Grab
the
person nearest you and tell her (him?)
that if you never want to see her
again.
Even in a protective plastic folder the
claws of
an evil cat ripped the
corner.
In a catamenial
catamaniacal moment?
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Below:
Look at the broad white strokes on the
dress - beautiful. (I'm a painter.)
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Below:
A Kotex dispenser
peeks through the curtains
hiding (almost) the toilet from the
toilette. How would that
conceal the - sorry to mention this! - sounds
and smells?
What looks like plumbing for a toilet or
bidet sits in
the
lower right corner, speaking as we are
of sitting.
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See more Kotex items: First ad
(1921; scroll to bottom of page) - ad, 1928 (Sears and Roebuck
catalog) -
Lee Miller ads
(first real person in a menstrual hygiene ad,
1928)
© 2014 Harry Finley.
It is illegal to reproduce or distribute
work on this Web site in any manner or
medium without written permission of the
author. Please report suspected violations
to hfinley@mum.org
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