The Kotex vending machine (and the pad within from the 1930s), the Kotex pad and box of the 1930s
See also the first Kotex ad (1921) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, (Kotex booklet, 1928), which has many Kotex links - the booklet Preparing for Womanhood (by Kotex, ca. 1928)- "Are you in the know?" ads (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) - and more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
See the Kotex Quest menstrual pad deodorant.
But read what really causes menstrual odor - you won't like it.
See also Australian douche ad (ca. 1900) - Fresca douche powder (U.S.A.) (date ?) - Kotique douche liquid ad, 1974 (U.S.A.) - Liasan (1) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Liasan (2) genital wash ad, 1980s (Germany) - Lysol douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Lysol douche liquid ad, 1948 (U.S.A.) - Marvel douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.) - Midol menstrual pain pill ad, 1938 (U.S.A.) - Midol booklet (selections), 1959 (U.S.A.) - Mum deodorant cream ad, 1926 (U.S.A.) - Myzone menstrual pain pills ad, 1952 (Australia) - Pristeen genital spray ad, 1969 (U.S.A.) - Spalt pain tablets, 1936 (Germany) - Vionell genital spray ad, 1970, with Cheryl Tiegs (Germany) - Zonite douche liquid ad, 1928 (U.S.A.)
The Perils of Vaginal Douching (essay by Luci Capo Rome) - the odor 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 vs. Modess menstrual pads, 1930-31, U.S.A.
Umbrellas and pads protect

Modess and Kotex pads battled it out from the time Modess appeared in the mid-1920s (Kotex started in 1920) until Modess lost when its belted pads disappeared from the American market in the 1990s. Johnson & Johnson, maker of Modess, famously commissioned Dr. Lillian Gilbreth, of "Cheaper by the Dozen" fame, to figure out what women wanted in a pad.

At the time of these ads many companies sold menstrual pads in the U.S.A. but Kotex was king - er, queen. The lonely woman in the Modess ad (below, right) eerily reflects that; the Kotex ladies chat away, discussing Kotex's pros and cons I'm sure (and in the second Kotex ad, below the first). Modess usually had the more elegant ads (here's another ccompany's attempt at elegance), culminating in the famous "Modess . . . . because" series, which are as verbally anorectic as this Modess model is physically. Even a wrapped Modess dispenser pad wilts under the verbiage of its Kotex competitor. You could say Kotex's competitor is more Modess(t).

Look at the Modess wearer's face; she should have just stayed home.

The ads measure 13 7/8" high. Magazines could be huge before the oil shortage in the 1970s reduced them to the sizes we have today. Too bad.

September, 1931 (Read the text and see the ladies' faces here.)
August, 1931 (see another very long and thin Modess woman) (Text & face here)
 Below: April, 1930, again the protection theme (no enlarged text)

 

More Kotex: Ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog) - Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday

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