See some Kotex first-campaign ads: general discussion and ad prototype - January 1921 - May 1921 - November 1921
See the Kotex stick tampon.
See more Kotex items: First ad (1921) - 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
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.

Kotex doesn't show! Three ads for Kotex menstrual pads,
1927, 1932, 1955 (U.S.A.)

Women, at least in America, have tried to conceal the fact that they menstruate and certainly haven't wanted anybody to see the pad they were wearing. Kotex played to that in many ads as did other companies. It's one of the reasons tampons are so popular. (Early manufacturers sometimes called tampons internal sanitary napkins, like here.

These three ads address women's fear of being outed that they're menstruating.

I truly believe that if women talked openly among themselves and in front of men about menstruation, and put pad and tampon boxes in visible places at their work place and at home most of the silly shame about periods would disappear. Men and women both think there's a huge issue involved. There isn't. The silence creates a false delicacy. What's there to be ashamed of?

Click on the ads to get close-ups of the pictures and text.

Above: January, 1927, the month the Gilbreth report appeared, an attempt to create a competitor for Kotex: Modess. See details.
Below: July, 1932: "Phantom Kotex" ran through another series of ads; see another example here. See details.
Above: April, 1955: "Not a shadow of a doubt" was a long ad Kotex campaign. See details.
 

See some Kotex first-campaign ads: general discussion and ad prototype - January 1921 - May 1921 - November 1921

© 1998 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
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