See Lil-lets tampons and instructions from South Africa (1978)
More: Feel the Shame 1: Pursettes 1974 - Feel the Shame 2: Kotex 1992
Tampon directory - Early tampons
See also advertising for teens: Saba Ad, Pursettes ad, Are you in the know? (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964), Ads for Teens
See the complete Wix box & tampon (and a flat version) and the whole Comfortubes box and contents.
See the Wix tampon, instructions, patent, The Fascinating Story of Wix (and another version) and store instruction sheet. And read an ad in the Sears catalog for Wix and see a Wix tampon store display ad.
Early commercial tampons
Ads for the Kotex stick tampon (U.S.A., 1970s) - a Japanese stick tampon from the 1970s.
Early commercial tampons - Rely tampon - Meds tampon (Modess)
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.

Lil-lets advertisement, "How to make a packet of tampons disappear" (in a magazine from the United Kingdom, October 1988)

Although Lil-lets is a popular tampon outside the United States, this ad shows the same concerns American women have had since, well, since the country was founded, probably.

The Johnson & Johnson company, which made Modess pads, commissioned a study (presented in 1927) from Dr. Lillian Gilbreth, the famous efficiency expert, to find out what women wanted in pads. One of the things Dr. Gilbreth discovered applies to both pads and tampons today and shouts in this advertisement: American women wanted the product and the box to be inconspicuous.

Commercial tampons had not appeared when the Gilbreth report appeared (women could probably buy the first ones in America in the early 1930s), but they incorporated this quality in a way a pad never could because they disappeared inside the body. By the way, like the first commercial tampons, Lil-lets has no insertion device. Tampax, in 1936, introduced this stroke of genius. (An Australian doctor introduced the applicator menstrual cup–Gynaeseal in the 1980s, but the product failed, although I've heard that it may not be dead. Some day I'll put what I know about this on the site.)

Now to get rid of the box! Lil-lets also follows Dr. Gilbreth's advice: reduce or take off the writing!

Folks who object that menstrual products companies should make people more tolerant of things menstrual rather than exploit their fears ignore the task of the businesses: to make money. The famous ad man David Ogilvy said that advertising aims not to change society but to discover what people believe and exploit that to sell products. It's something I halfway accept while regretting it.

 

 The ad covers two facing pages in the magazine.
Below: the six sections, enlarged.

 

 

 

 

 

See Lil-lets tampons and instructions from South Africa (1978). U.K. ad from 1976/77 - More: Feel the Shame 1: Pursettes 1974 - Feel the Shame 2: Kotex 1992, Tampon directory - Early tampons See also advertising for teens: Saba Ad, Pursettes ad, Are you in the know? (Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964), Ads for Teens

© 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