Booklets menstrual
hygiene companies made for girls, women and
teachers - patent
medicine - a list
of books and articles about menstruation - videos
See a Kotex ad
advertising a Marjorie May booklet.
See many more similar booklets.
See ads for
menarche-education booklets: Marjorie May's Twelfth
Birthday (Kotex, 1932), Tampax
tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal Products
(1955, with Carol Lynley), and German o.b. tampons (lower
ad, 1981)
And read Lynn Peril's series
about these and similar booklets!
Read the full text of the 1935 Canadian edition
of Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday, probably
identical to the American edition.
More ads for teens (see also introductory page for
teenage advertising): Are
you in the know?
(Kotex napkins and Quest napkin powder, 1948,
U.S.A.), Are
you in the know?
(Kotex napkins and belts, 1949, U.S.A.)Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins, 1953, U.S.A.),
Are you in the know? (Kotex napkins and belts,
1964, U.S.A.), Freedom
(1990, Germany), Kotex (1992, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Pursettes (1974, U.S.A.), Saba (1975, Denmark)
See early tampons
and a list of tampon
on this site - at least the ones I've cataloged.
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Three very early Dutch Tampax menstrual tampon
ads, 1938
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Tampax started in the U.S.A. in
the early 1930s with the invention
of Dr. Earle Haas (read "Small Wonder,"
the
company's
history of itself from 1936-86),
a
two-tube applicator, which
contrasted with the non-applicator
tampons of the 1930s in America (for
example, Wix).
(See a box of Tampax from the early 1930s.)
Apparently, in the late 1930s
Tampax reached Europe, as seen the
ads below in Dutch publications.
Tambrands, the company that made
Tampax until the late 1990s,
presented this museum a box of its
tampons with French text that
it marked with "1938" - maybe for
France, maybe for French-speaking
Canada, maybe for both or maybe for
somewhere else.
The advertising emphasizes freedom
for sports, etc., and freedom from
menstrual pads and napkin belts (see some American belts)
and pins, which had nagged women for
ever.
"Geen gordel,
geen spelden, geen verband" means
what it meant on American Tampax
boxes for decades: "No belt, no
pins, no pad," the rallying cry of
Tampax.
See another Dutch ad from 1938,
virtually identical to a contemporary American ad.
And look at three French
Tampax magazine ads and a
countertop display from
1938.
A Dutchman generously contributed
the scans of the ads and the
translation of the first one.
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Above: 15 September 1938 in
Panorama magazine
Translation by the Dutch
contributor:
[Title]
TAMPAX
The new method of hygienic protection
was advertised the first time a month
ago.
[Balloon]
Now already enthusiastic letters
[Box with letter]
August 1, 1938
I hope that all women
realize how thankful they must be to
the inventor of Tampax. It is a real
rescue! I recommend as much as
possible Tampax to every girlfriend
and they are all just as enthusiastic
as me. [P.S. Velp is a little affluent
town nearby Arnhem in the eastern part
of the Netherlands]
[Photo of Tampax box]
Hygienic protection [cross] Internally
worn
[right center]: TAMPAX
Recommended by
gynecologists
[center] TAMPAX
Patent
10 TAMPAX sufficient
for one month
[in black] The solution
to a century-old problem
[in black underside]
Safe Sure
Pleasant Easy
[Left under]
Tampax is ideal for the
civilized woman. Perfect hygienic
protection, absolute certainty,
complete invisibility. It gives
unhampered freedom of movement.
[Black box]
No belt
No pins
No napkin
[Body]
Everywhere in the
Netherlands, in every town, the ladies
[vrouwen = women; dames = ladies, very
distinct] told each other about
Tampax, the new method of hygienic
protection.
Tampax has to be worn
internally. You can do your daily
chores or do sport as on other days.
You can wear the thinnest dress or a
modern sport or bathing suit without
people noticing anything. Tampax is
perfectly invisible and you don't
notice it yourself .
Tampax was invented by
a doctor, for every normal woman and
is after its triumphal march through
America and England now also available
in the Netherlands. It is a complete
revolution in the field of monthly
hygiene.
No napkin, no belt, no
pins anymore. Tampax gives perfect
protection and can be changed in a
moment. It is manufactured from
extraordinary strong absorbing,
medical cotton-wool, strongly
compressed, packed in sealed, patented
applicator.
Recommended by
gynecologists and Dutch doctors.
A box for a whole month
supply can be stored easily in your
handbag and cost only 65 cents
[nominally about 24 dollar cents*)], a
trail box 35 cents.
[Coupon]
N.V. [=limited
liability company] Drogerijen
Maatschappij
Verlaatstraat 52-56,
Rotterdam
Send me a trial box of
Tampax. Enclosed are stamps worth 35
cents.
Name/Street/Town
Send it in closed
envelop as a letter.
[*)nominal one Dutch
guilder = 100 cents = about 0,45 Euro
= about 40 dollar cents nowadays]
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Above: from Panorama, 29 September
1938. The large words at top say,
"Freedom from the pad." Note the
nurse, once common on menstrual
product packaging. See a frightening
but
pretty German nurse wagging her
finger.
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From Panorama, 1 September
1938. The headline reads, "Life
for women is more confortable - each
month."
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British ad promoting
use with thongs, 1994 - another British Tampax ad,
with nudity, 1992 - "Are
you sure I'll still be a virgin?" ad
(Feb. 1990) - August 1965
ad (U.S.A.)
© 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
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