See a Polish
ad for Libresse and a Dutch bus-stop ad,
2006 - See a very early Tampax.
Booklets
menstrual hygiene companies made for girls,
women and teachers - patent
medicine - a list
of books and articles about menstruation - videos
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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.
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Above:
My
white
arrows, at right,
point to the pads stained
red.
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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!
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© 2006 Harry Finley. It is
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