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 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
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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.
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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.
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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."
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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