Directory of
tampons on this site.
Read also the important
following articles
(issues listed) in the Rochester
(New York) Patriot
newspaper, which investigated Rely in
1975 and 1976, years before the toxic shock
crisis: 23 July-5 August
1975 (front cover) -
6-26 August 1975 - 11 December 1975-13
January 1976 - 1-14
September 1976) - a letter to a customer
assuring her that Rely was safe (April 1980) -
and a letter from
Procter & Gamble (22 September 1980)
announcing that it was stopping distribution of
Rely because of health concerns
And read Lynn Peril's series
about these and similar booklets!
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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Trust menstrual tampon,
U.S.A., 1974
Procter & Gamble, distributors
Very bad luck killed Procter &
Gamble's tampon business in 1980. That
luck came from the even worse luck of
many women who used its very absorbent
Rely tampon and either died or
suffered other consequences from toxic
shock syndrome, an illness that starts
not only in the vagina but elsewhere
and in men. (See and read more about Rely. And read
the letter
P&G sent to stop distribution of
the tampon, and some 1970s articles
criticizing the tampon.)
You'll appreciate the irony in the
name Rely. But about the same time,
the mid-to-late 1970s, the company
marketed another tampon with an
inspiring name, Trust. P&G's bad
luck continued with the name of this
second tampon, a name destined for
mockery, although I don't know of any
illness associated with it, but
P&G pulled out of the tampon
business. It re-entered when it bought
the premier name in tampons, in 1997,
Tampax. It couldn't go wrong with a
tampon tested since the early 1930s. Not
that toxic shock cannot occur in any
tampon, although it's very unlikely.
And some women are more susceptible
than others, which a test can
determine.
Trust seems to consist of cotton,
not the artificial fibers in Rely; the
box and directions list no
ingredients.
I thank Tambrands, which donated
this box in 1997 as well as about
1000 other items from its archives
to this museum. Tampax, which
Tambrands made, is now part of
Procter & Gamble.
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Below:
The box measures 3.25 x 5.5 x 1.125"
(8 x 14 x 3 cm). Someone at Tambrands
wrote on the box. The other side lacks
"Distributed by . . . ."
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Below:
Ten tampons cost $0.39.
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Next: the Trust tampon and directions
See the super Rely tampon,
two sections of its
instructions , and an ad for Rely from 1980.
Read also the important
following articles
(issues listed) in the Rochester
(New York)
Patriot newspaper, which investigated
Rely in 1975 and 1976, years before the toxic
shock crisis.
Directory of tampons
on this site.
© 2006 Harry Finley. It is illegal to
reproduce
or distribute 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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