See more ads for teenagers.
See a Polish ad for Libresse and a Dutch bus-stop ad, 2006 - See a very early Tampax.
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Menstrual red in an ad for Libresse menstrual pads, Dutch, 1998

Certainly in America companies do not tolerate red in ads for menstrual hygiene - it might suggest menstruation! Blue is the popular choice, called hospital blue in a history of one of the companies. Hospitals suggest illness. Is menstruation an illness? Dr. Lillian Gilbreth complained about blue in her famous report to Johnson & Johnson in 1927.

But the Dutch seem to be more accepting and show pads stained red (which my white arrows point to in the picture below) although a gloved hand holds the pad, the glove looking like one used to handle the ebola virus.

Margot van Mulken kindly sent me this ad, one of scores, along with many photocopies, as part of her research for her article "De verpakking van maandverband: De ontwikkeling van retoriek in tijdschriftadvertenties" in Tidschift voor Genderstudies, 2005-1.

 

Above:  My white arrows, at right, point to the pads stained red.

 

Enlargement of the area the arrows point to. Note the white gloves.
A bare hand would give the impression that women actually touch
their used pads!
See a Polish ad for Libresse, a Dutch Libresse bus-stop ad and more ads for teenagers.

© 2006 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