See o.b. booklets: Volwassen worden ("Growing up," the Netherlands, excerpts, 2004, o.b. tampons)
[Die] Menstruation (excerpts, 1977, o.b. tampons, Germany)
See an actual o.b. tampon from the 1970s - More o.b. stuff in the tampon directory
See a FAKE Tampax from Turkey.
Tampax Junior tampons, late 1930s-1940s
Tampax Satin Learner's Kit (for menstruation), 2001, in 3 languages
Instructions from Tampax about what to tell customers, 1936
See a French and American Tampax from 1938
Tampax "Educational Material on Menstruation," 1966
See a very early Tampax ad (1936) - a very early Tampax box and contents - more early commercial tampons
Booklets menstrual hygiene companies made for girls, women and teachers - patent medicine - a list of books and articles about menstruation - videos
What did American and European women use in the past for menstruation?
See also How shall I tell my daughter? and Personal Digest and read the whole booklet As One Girl to Another (Kotex, 1940).
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)
See also the booklets How shall I tell my daughter? (Modess, various dates), and Growing up and liking it (Modess, various dates)
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.
Is this the first Tampax tampon? Go to Early Commercial Tampons
Other early commercial tampons - Main Tampax patent - Ad from 1936 - World War II Tampax sign
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.
CONTRIBUTE to Humor, Words and expressions about menstruation and Would you stop menstruating if you could?
Some MUM site links:
homepage | MUM address & What does MUM mean? | e-mail the museum | privacy on this site | who runs this museum?? |
Amazing women! | the art of menstruation | artists (non-menstrual) | asbestos | belts | bidets | founder bio | Bly, Nellie | MUM board | books: menstruation and menopause (and reviews) | cats | company booklets for girls (mostly) directory | contraception and religion | costumes | menstrual cups | cup usage | dispensers | douches, pain, sprays | essay directory | extraction | facts-of-life booklets for girls | famous women in menstrual hygiene ads | FAQ | founder/director biography | gynecological topics by Dr. Soucasaux | humor | huts | links | masturbation | media coverage of MUM | menarche booklets for girls and parents | miscellaneous | museum future | Norwegian menstruation exhibit | odor | olor | pad directory | patent medicine | poetry directory | products, current | puberty booklets for girls and parents | religion | Religi�n y menstruaci�n | your remedies for menstrual discomfort | menstrual products safety | science | Seguridad de productos para la menstruaci�n | shame | slapping, menstrual | sponges | synchrony | tampon directory | early tampons | teen ads directory | tour of the former museum (video) | underpants & panties directory | videos, films directory | Words and expressions about menstruation | Would you stop menstruating if you could? | What did women do about menstruation in the past? | washable pads
Leer la versi�n en espa�ol de los siguientes temas: Anticoncepci�n y religi�n, Breve rese�a - Olor - Religi�n y menstruaci�n - Seguridad de productos para la menstruaci�n.

 
The Museum of Menstruation and Women's Health

o.b. ad
The Netherlands, 2000
Viva magazine

Pads battle tampons!

The fight without end continued in the ad below.

Big surprise! The tampon - o.b. - won in spite of her mama's influence. But then mamas by definition are old fashioned. O.K., maybe not all.

A European tampon before Johnson & Johnson took it over in the 1970s, o.b. stood out in recent America by having no insertion device, but most early American tampons also had no applicators, so the idea was not new, just forgotten. Tampax and its patent on a cardboard applicator killed most of its  competition in its first decades, probably even in Europe.

O.b. has made some of the cleverest and boldest ads in the industry although English products might be the wittiest.

Margot van Mulken kindly sent me this ad, one of scores, along with
many photocopies of Dutch ads, as part of her research for her article "De verpakking
van maandverband: De ontwikkeling van retoriek in tijdschriftadvertenties"
(The Packaging of of Menstrual Pads: The Development of Rhetoric in
Magazine Advertising) in Tidschift voor Genderstudies (Journal of Gender Studies),
2005-1.
See an Always ad she sent me,  from 1997.

Below: The ad occupies the left half of a page measuring
8 1/4 x 10 1/2" (21 x 26.7 cm).
Below: My translation - and What's in her hand?
(advertisement)









Did you use tampons from the time of your first period?


Mom gave me a menstrual pad first but I quickly wanted to try tampons. I started with the smallest and truly I never wanted to go back to pads. I felt so much cleaner. At present it's simpler to start with o.b. because there's now o.b. Comfort. They're more slender and have a smooth surface, thus more comfortable to insert. Ideal for the first time and great for the lighter days!

(at bottom) If you have questions write to the o.b.  advice center....
Below: That's not an o.b. but her index finger.



See an o.b. tampon from the 1970s - More o.b. stuff in the tampon directory - Tampax Satin Learner's Kit (for menstruation), 2001, in 3 languages
Instructions from Tampax about what to tell customers, 1936 - See a French and American Tampax from 1938
Tampax "Educational Material on Menstruation,"
1966

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