Tampax gave more
technical advice in its 1950s Bulletins and
Dr. Dickinson discussed the advantages of
tampons over pads in his 1945 report.
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MUSEUM OF MENSTRUATION AND WOMEN'S
HEALTH
Tampax menstrual tampon
ad, German, May 1989
Girl!
magazine (yes, that's the title
of the German publication for,
um, girls!)
"Can a
tampon get lost in the body?"
(in translation)
Tampax seems to have conducted a
multi-national campaign in
1989-1990 about questions
beginners ask about tampons. But
it also seems to have left to ad
agencies in the respective
countries to design and write the
text, a good idea.
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Below:
Compare the expressions on the
girls' faces - they can't
be talking about whether their
tampons can sneak through their
cervices - with the
Ho-ho-ho,-I-know look on the face
of the girl in the American
version.
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In the translation, below, see how the text
at first leads you to believe
that it's exclusively a Tampax
virtue that you can't push the
tampon in too far. Then
it concedes that you can't push any
tampon in too far but regains its
footing by saying that the Tampax
tube applicator enables you to put
the 'pon just where it should
be. European tampons often lack an
applicator, for example the German
invention o.b. "Amis" - German
slang for Americans and
not necessarily friendly in spite
of the coincidental appearance of
the French word for "friends" -
invented the tampon with an
applicator, the genius of
Tampax, which met American
sensibilities. Most early American
tampons lacked
applicators.
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My
translation of the headline
and text of the ad:
"Can a tampon get lost in the
body? [The text continues at
right.] That probably sounds
crazy but I'd always worried
about it. Until my girlfriend
told me about Tampax. She said
you can't push a Tampax tampon
in too far because a tampon
would never pass through the
tiny opening of the uterus. And
because Tampax has the special
insertion help the tampon
reaches the right place where
you won't feel it. With the
insertion help everything goes
problem free and gently.
Further: you can get Tampax in a
special mini size for young
girls. It's neat that even
beginners can easily use
Tampax."
TAMPAX, from the beginning.
[Boxed coupon] I'd like to
learn about mini Tampax with the
insertion help and would like
the free and practical Tampax
box [note the English!] with
four tampons.
Name, age, street/number, area
code/city
Glue the coupon on a postcard
and send to: Tampax consultation
service [addresses in Nuremberg
and Vienna follow]
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© 2008 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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