See more Kotex items: First ad
(1921; scroll to bottom of page) - ad 1928 (Sears
and Roebuck catalog) - Lee Miller ads (first
real person in a menstrual hygiene ad, 1928) - Marjorie
May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet for girls, 1928, Australian edition;
there are many links here to Kotex items) - Preparing
for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for girls; Australian edition) - 1920s
booklet in Spanish showing disposal method
- box from about 1969 -
"Are you in the know?" ads
(Kotex) (1949)(1953)(1964)(booklet, 1956) -
See more ads on the Ads for Teenagers main page
See other flushable pads: Society (American?,
1920s - 1930s?), Modess (American, 1972) and
Sani-Flite (American, 1971)
See an early ad for New Freedom (1971) and
an early leaflet (date unknown) promoting it
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
 
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Ad for New Freedom menstrual pad, Kotex,
1978, U.S.A.
Featuring a named "unknown" person
It's unusual to find people willing to reveal their name - and face
- in ads for menstrual products. Famous people
(and in-the-future-famous people) have done this but "ordinary"
folks make themselves scarce, especially in prudish countries like America.
And on top of that, advertising a pad for a cheerleader (but especially
for a gymnast, Cathy Rigby most famously) pushes
the idea to new heights (actually old heights because of the age of these
ads) considering that cheerleaders (and gymnasts) almost bare all. One slip
of a pad and . . . .
"[D]o you get my drift" is priceless and belongs to that era
just as the teenage talk Kotex used in earlier
ads.
Personal Products Company, maker of Modess,
introduced Stayfree beltless pads (see an ad featuring
gymnast Cathy Rigby) right before (1970) Kimberly-Clark started selling
New Freedom, the pad below.
Both pads virtually killed the sanitary napkin
belt industry
in the United States. Why would a woman want to wear something that allows
the pad to twist and shift (well, I guess they still do)? Pads quickly got
better, smaller and more absorbent and took flight with wings, which protected
underpants. See the panties and other devices
New Freedom offered in place of belts.
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NEXT ad from this era featuring a named person
- ads featuring famous people
See a 1971 box (with pads) of New Freedom, an
early ad for New Freedom (1971) and an early leaflet (date unknown) promoting it.
© 2007 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute work
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