See other
o.b. ads: See
other o.b. ads: French
(ooo.ooo.b., 1989) - German
(nude, 1970s) - German
(1970s) - German nude
(1970s) - French
(1989) - Dutch 2005
German Camelia ad
(1920s) - German Camelia
ad right before World War ll - German Camelia ad touting
disposal bag(1990s)
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Early ad for o.b. tampons (probably
early 1950s; German, magazine unknown)
Europeans probably started using
tampons after World War II, utilizing
another contribution of American
culture (see some pre-1940 American tampons),
although the Tambrands company did
send me a box of tampons with a French
text and with a note saying it was
from the 1930s. But let's ignore that.
I believe the o.b.
tampon - o.b. stands
for the German ohne
Binde, meaning without [a
menstrual] pad
- was the first
native European brand (the
American company Johnson & Johnson
bought it in the 1970s). It had no
applicator, just like the first
American tampons (Tampax
made the first applicator, in the
early 1930s). I suspect European women
thought that inserting their fingers
into their vaginas was peanuts
compared with the war they just went
through - and the applicator-less
tampons had to have been cheaper.
The ad comes from the book Die unpäßliche
Frau, by Sabine Hering and
Gudrun Maierhof (Pfaffenweiler,
Germany, 1991).
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I suspect the original
ad is in color.
Translation: "The
future of menstrual hygiene"["Damenhygiene"
literally
means "ladies' hygiene"]
"o.b." stands for "ohne Binde,"
German for "without [a] pad."
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See other
o.b. ads: French
(ooo.ooo.b., 1989) - German
(nude, 1970s) - German (1970s) -
German nude
(1970s) - French
(1989)
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