See an exhibit of the history of the Norwegian branch of this company - see a Danish Saba ad - more supposedly flushable pads
Norwegian knitted menstrual pads from the nineteenth century, probably similar to those used by Swedes
Kotex ad emphasizing shame, 1992
See ads for Pursettes: September 1972 (letter testimonial) - August 1973 (letter testimonial) - February 1974 (cartoon story) - August 1974 (cartoon story) - October 1974 (cartoon story) See a 1965 ad for a Pursettes school educational kit - Pursettes Getting to Know Yourself booklet for girls - other teaching booklets: Growing Up and Liking It and How Shall I Tell My Daughter?
See more Kotex items: First ad (1921) - ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck catalog) - Lee Miller ads (first real person in amenstrual 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
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.

Ad for Mimosept Saba thin, flushable menstrual pads, 1981, Sweden

About the time of this ad pads everywhere were becoming thinner because of new technology and materials. About ten years earlier the other modern "revolution" occurred, with sticky pads adhering to the crotches of ordinary underpants (see New Freedom, 1970), replacing belts holding the pads inside underpants - or special underpants with various grasping devices (here's a Modess "Sanitary Shield" from 1972).

Swedes probably used knitted pads similar to these Norwegian pads in the nineteenth century and before - and maybe into the twentieth.

 

Here's a mini overview of the full-page ad.  See a bigger version at the bottom of the page.
My translation of the big words at top:
"I hardly dared trust such a thin pad, but now I'm happy I tried."
Words at bottom:
Mimosept Saba. Effective and discreet. Just half as thick.

 

 

We see the bulge of the pad in the underpants, a sin punishable by death in American advertising, which strives to eliminate all trace of menstruation. More Swedish bulges.


Left: The beloved blue of the Swedish flag - which may be the most beautiful of all flags - originates in the sky and water of Sweden. Once, on the train to Copenhagen, I met a Swedish girl and spent a week in her town of Nyköping, on the Baltic Sea, where we experienced scenes just like this. Are you still there, Barbro? Oops, back to work! "Spolbar" means "flushable."

 

 
Left: A visitor in the actual Museum of Menstruation pointed out to me that this woman looks right at the ad viewer, something rare in menstrual products advertising. In contrast to the confident girl looking at the viewer in a German Camelia ad, this Swedish flicka appears uncomfortable to me, although a good sport, as if she had lost a bet and had to appear in her underwear in a menstrual-pad ad.

 

I'll take a shot at translating the above ad copy:
Now and then innovations appear that involve big changes, like now, when a pad suddenly becomes really comfortable and discreet menstrual protection.
The new pad is called Mimosept Saba, which is only half as thick as the usual pad, but still effective, even when one has a heavy period.
Mimosept Saba is so thin that you will perhaps hesitate, but you can let it replace any pad you want.
Writing under the drawings:
[left] The usual pad is this thick [right] Mimosept Saba is merely half as thick

 

I translate the above text as:
Try Mimosept Saba yourself next time. You'll be surprised about how well it absorbs. The menses are drawn into the pad and don't remain on the surface.
Mimosept Saba costs about what other pads do and flushes down the toilet.
 See some other supposedly flushable pads.

 

 

 
See an exhibit of the history of the Norwegian branch of this company - see a Danish Saba ad - more supposedly flushable pads. Norwegian knitted menstrual pads from the nineteenth century

© 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