Compare a French
Modess ad, a German
ad, and another French ad featuring just a man!
And see a Modess . .
. . because pad
dispenser from the Smithsonian
Institution, in Washington, D.C. (U.S.A.).
See a prototype
of the first Kotex ad.
See more Kotex items: Ad 1928 (Sears and Roebuck
catalog) - Marjorie
May's Twelfth Birthday (booklet for
girls, 1928, Australian edition; there are
many links here to Kotex items) - 1920s
booklet in Spanish showing disposal method
- box from about
1969 - Preparing
for Womanhood (1920s, booklet for
girls) - "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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Four store displays offering
reproductions of
Modess pad fashion photograph ads, 1957,
U.S.A.
Many product ads offered
items for sale or for free aside
from the products the viewer
could buy - but
reproductions of ads for
menstrual products? Huh?
Because of society's norms -
especially American society's -
the offering had to evoke
nothing of menstruation. But
that was the whole idea of this
at-a-loss-for-words advertising
campaign, at least for the first
years. Who would connect
beautiful gowns with periods?
Modess sanitary napkins
conducted a famous advertising
campaign from 1948 to the 1970s in
the U.S.A. Usually the only words
were "Modess
. . . . because."
Think modest.
Advertising journals of the time
occasionally made fun of the
series; sometimes they praised it.
In a sense, the unfinished phrase
summed up the American public's
feelings about menstruation: It's something
it couldn't talk about! Read
a Johnson & Johnson inside
account of the origin of
this campaign. Read more
about this campaign.
These are
probably the most elegant ads
ever made for menstrual products,
although Modess had had a history
of elegance reflected in
fashion.
I thank the frequent Dutch
contributor for these scans of
his possessions!
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Below:
The scan donor gives the measurements
as follows (each of the displays is
the same size):
The height: 360 mm; the width at top
310 mm (14.17"), in the middle at its
widest 505 mm (19.9"),
and at bottom 465 mm (18.3"). The
thickness of the cardboard is 3 mm,
(about 1/10").
The scan donor believes the woman
in the gown was the famous American
model
Dovima (Dorothy
Virginia Margaret Juba; read more here). I think he's right.
She's also on this
card.
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Compare a French
Modess ad, a German
ad, and another French ad featuring just a man!
And see a Modess .
. . . because pad dispenser from
the Smithsonian Institution.
� 2016 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 [email protected]
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