Compare the American "Modess . . . . because" ads, a Modess ad from 1928, the French Modess, and the German "Freedom" (Kimberly-Clark) for teens.
See a prototype of the first Kotex ad.
See more Kotex items: 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
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)
Leer la versión en español de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepción y religión, Breve reseña - Olor - Religión y menstruación - Seguridad de productos para la menstruación.
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepageMUM 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.

Modess sanitary towel (napkin) ad,
Great Britain,
29 February 1936, in Woman's Weekly

Modess, probably the main competitor of Kotex sanitary napkins in America for decades after its creation in 1926, seems to have taken its name from "modest," which is exactly what this black-and-white ad expresses. Roughly contemporary Modess ads in the U.S. were showier (1928 and 1931) - they might reflect the difference in American and British temperaments.

Look at an American Modess pad from the 1930s.

But about ten years later Modess in America became so modest it almost lost its tongue. The long "Modess . . . . because" series featured glamourous women and little ad copy - certainly not identifying what Modess was.

It was - blush - too modest to say.

 

Americans like me sometimes need help in reading English: a draper is "a dealer in cloth and sometimes also in clothing and dry goods" according to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary.

But the French had no problem with modesty.

Compare the American "Modess . . . . because" ads, a Modess ad from 1928, the French Modess,
and the German "Freedom" (Kimberly-Clark) for teens.

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