Compare the American "Modess,
because . . ." ads, a French Modess ad, a
French ad featuring just a man!,
and ads for teens.
See the box for the
French version of this tampon
See 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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Freedom menstrual tampons, sanitary
napkins and panty pads, 1990, Germany,
Girl! magazine, from Kotex
Germans saw this effervescent, and
nude - that's body
paint - woman laughing for
Freedom menstrual pads, tampons and
panty pads in a 1990 issue of the
German magazine Girl! (yes, Girl!), a
mainstream magazine for German teenage
girls, and also in mainstream
magazines for women, such as Freundin
("Girlfriend"). Like the French,
Germans accept nudity both in life and
in print, and elsewhere, with less
fuss than Americans.
The words at lower right say, "Menstrual protection
that's fun [!] ," which may
be pushing the issue.
Kimberly-Clark, the American company
that makes Kotex menstrual pads and
tampons, sells Freedom in Germany and
also a brand in France, which at this
time also had models looking as if
they were really enjoying themselves
during menstruation, not like those
crabby Americans! It's probable that
the colorful packaging is meant to
disguise the articles, though,
rather than show any more pleasure
in periods.
Many younger, hip Germans know
English words like "girl" and
"freedom," and there is actually a
German magazine for teenage girls
called Mädchen, which means
"girl." Go figure. English has a foot
in pop culture around the world.
See the box for
this tampon.
See
a similar ad here.
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Below:
My translation:
Menstrual protection that's fun
I would like to get to know
Freedom. Please send me free
samples. My age is:
Just cut out the coupon and send
with sufficient postage to
Kimberly-Clark GmbH [Gesellschaft
mit beschränkter Haftung, which
means company], codeword:
Freedom, post box
6000 Frankfurt 1
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See a similar
German ad, also from 1990. See
the box
for the French version of this tampon.
French ads showing nudity: Freedom
from the 1970s (?) and Modess from
the 1970s (?).
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Compare the American "Modess,
because . . ." ads, and a French ad
featuring just a man!
See more ads
for menarche-education booklets: Marjorie
May's Twelfth Birthday (Kotex,
1933), Tampax
tampons (1970, with Susan Dey), Personal Products
(1955, with Carol Lynley), and German
o.b. tampons
(lower ad, 1981)
See also the booklets
How shall I
tell my daughter? (Modess,
various dates), Growing
up and liking it (Modess,
various dates), and Marjorie May's
Twelfth Birthday (Kotex, 1928).
And read Lynn Peril's series
about these and similar booklets!
See another ad
for As One Girl to Another (1942), and
the booklet
itself.
© 2007 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 [email protected]
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