See a Tampax tampon ad a week later in the same magazine. Wrapped Kotex pad from dispenser, 1930s, U.S.A.
Compare a more somber American ad for Kotex from five years earlier
See 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 ad, 1938 - 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) - Sterizol douche liquid ad, 1926 (U.S.A.) - 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
More Midol: Midol booklet (selections), 1959, and Midol ad, 1938
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.

Nefa menstrual napkins (damesverband),
the Netherlands, 28 July 1936, ad in Panorama magazine

This cheery black-and-white Dutch ad for probably a native sanitary napkin reads like many American ads in promoting its product: you couldn't buy anything better (see my translation under the ad). Then again, the company wouldn't write, "Oh, well, it's pretty good, considering."

Look, the model gazes up, not down, where the pad is! (Other upward-gazing models: for American Tampax, for German Carefree. Looking down might indicate shame, a thorny subject for these companies.)

Read more about what women - American, anyway - wanted in a pad in Dr. Lillian Gilbreth's 1927 report to Johnson & Johnson. Her children would later write books about the efficiency expert and her husband: "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "Belles on their Toes," which Hollwood made into movies.

29 years later Nefa simplified its logo (and lowercased its name) but retained a Dutch-looking model. Later on, Dutch menstrual supplies manufacturers yielded to the times and included dark-skinned models - and men! - reflecting immigrants from outside Europe and Dutch liberalism.

I thank the generous Dutchman who sent this ad as he has so many others!
See a Tampax tampon ad a week later in the same magazine.
Compare a more somber American ad for Kotex from five years earlier - but it features invisibility, mentioned in this ad. And it offers a booklet to prepare for a daughter's first menstruation, one of the famous Marjorie May booklets.

 
Thanks to a Dutch e-mailer for help with a sentence!
"Take advantage of every vacation day!
"Don't let difficult days spoil your summer enjoyment. With Nefa, the ideal sanitary napkin, you're completely safe. Nefa is very absorbent, wonderfully soft in construction, oh so supple and utterly hygienic. Even with the lightest summer dress it remains completely invisible. Nefa is available everywhere. Make sure you have the correct name and brand. Nefa is 100 percent made in The Netherlands."
There are ten pads per box. I don't understand what (translated) "Orange," "Blue," and "Green" indicate unless it refers to different sizes or count per box which the colors identify.
"Ct" means cents.

See a Tampax tampon ad a week later in the same magazine. Wrapped Kotex pad from dispenser, 1930s, U.S.A.
Compare a more somber American ad for Kotex from five years earlier

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